Ocean Waters
by Whistle Mist
Summary: Capturing, training, turning them into preforming animals was perfect for Slade's two Mermaids named Nightwing and Red Hood. However he still wanted the one stray mermaid that got away with it's Father. Slade was going to either kill or keep the shadow Merman what was nick named Bat. But for now he would settle ripping his family apart.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Batman**

**Let us thank L. VanDattae for Betaing! **

* * *

_It was cold._

_The darkness of water surrounded him as he sank farther into the depths of the sea. His lungs burned with the need for oxygen, yet his body had stopped struggling a short time beforehand._

_At least he would get to see his parents, since they'd died a few months earlier. It was too bad too. Dick had been so excited to go to America and join his best friend and his family._

_Dick wished he had a family. Someone who would be there for him. Even now he wished that he had some sort of family with him before he died in the sea._

_It seemed his wish was answered as strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him close, and something powerful washed through his soul before darkness took hold._

* * *

Dick jerked awake at the memory.

Shaking his head, the now twenty-one-year-old yawned, stretching before settling back down, curled up against his father and his brothers, tail swishing happily before Jason's tail came up to hit him. Huffing, Dick looked at his younger brother, who was bigger than him (sadly Jason has grown taller than him at fifteen and now the twenty-year-old Jason could push Dick around) and swatted him back, and soon the two were seeing who could hit who, and one of them hit the youngest and shortest of the family, causing him to wake up. Tim was fifteen, but he passed for about ten. For some reason he didn't grow normally. Instead of joining into the spat, Tim nudged his way under their father's arm, seeking safety before trying to go back to sleep.

Dick and Jason continued to swat each other, and started to push and shove when a deep growl was heard. It was a warning, and the two glared at each other before settling back down and trying to get back to sleep.

After all, that morning was going to be Sun Day!

A few hours later Dick was woken by Tim, who shook his arm before shaking Jason awake. Stretching again, Dick noticed that Bruce was gone.

"_You two overslept,_" Tim said, before swimming out of the cave. "_Come on, Bruce already went hunting._"

"_Food!_" Jason swam past Dick and nearly ran into Tim.

"_Wait for me!_" Dick laughed, swimming after him. "_Come on, Timmy!_"

"_Wait for me!_" Tim cried, struggling to keep up.

The three of them swam towards an underwater rock where they normally ate and where a school of fish was waiting for them that Bruce had caught. Their father looked at them before waving at the food for them to eat.

Grabbing one, Dick bit the fish to kill it before taking a bite, squealing at the taste. Bruce always found the best food.

"_Eat as much as you can,_" Bruce said. "_We're leaving in a half hour._"

"_Sun Day?_" Tim asked, swimming over to sit in Bruce's arms.

"_Yes. It'll be a long swim._"

Dick grabbed another fish and glared at Jason, who was already on his fifth fish. Jason smirked at him. Jason was the biggest child of the famous Bruce Wayne, one of the strongest merfolk in the world.

The only thing a bit odd was that Bruce had adopted all three of his children. Dick and Jason had once been human before he'd saved them, turning them into merfolk. Tim was a merchild, but his father had been very abusive. One day Bruce had come across them after Tim had been beaten so badly that the child was bleeding to death. Bruce had saved Tim and had thought the boy was five, but he was ten. Shocked, Bruce took the boy in as his own. Feeding Tim was difficult. He couldn't eat like his new brothers and ate so little because his stomach had shrunk from Jack's neglect.

Now Tim ate more. Still too little, but a healthy portion nonetheless, and he was a good boy. Good, sweet, kind, loyal, but very insecure about himself, and he was terrified about being left behind or forgotten.

Tim was never too far from Bruce or out of sight, but Dick and Jason often took off for a couple of hours before returning. Oh, they knew Bruce hated when they did that, but they wanted to explore.

"_Tim, you need to eat more._"

Dick looked up from his eleventh fish to see Tim barely nibbling on his third.

Tim nodded before taking a bit more.

"_Bruce, can we go now?_" Jason complained, tossing away the bones from his twentieth fish.

"_Not yet._"

Jason glared at Tim and Tim ignored him.

After Tim's fifth fish they headed out. It would take a day to reach the little island where no land dwellers were. It was exciting, and Dick could hardly wait to feel the sun again.

When the evening came, they went hunting for more food, and after eating, continued on through the night. Twice Tim had to ride on Bruce's back and once for Dick, but only because he wanted a ride.

When they got to the island, the sun was coming up. They reached the surface and breathed in the air. They swam to a little cove that had sand and large rocks to rest on. Dick hauled himself onto a rock, laying flat on his stomach and sighing happily as warmth filled him. Eyes closed, he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Bruce had chosen to rest on the sand, lying on his back, using his hands as a pillow. Tim was next to him, curled up happily, and Jason was on the rock next to Dick.

They would rest for a while.

* * *

Slade couldn't believe it.

There on a rock lay two mermen. The smaller one had a beautiful bright blue tail with silver scales that ran all the way up his spine. The larger one had a deep crimson tail. Both had inky locks of hair and seemed to be asleep.

He had to have them.

No one had seen a mermaid or a merman in almost thirty years. He would make a killing if he brought them back and trained them to be in a show.

They sailed the boat to the other side and Slade took twenty of his men with him. When they got closer they saw two more. A large merman with great muscle mass and a black-as-night tail. He must have been the leader. Next to him was a small merchild with a green tail. The young one had yet to gain his grown color. It was dangerous with that large male around, but a few hours later the leader rose and went into the water, most likely to eat. Slade frowned when the little one followed. Slade had been hoping to catch the three younger ones all at once.

Well, two would have to do. "Get them into the nets."

* * *

Bruce and Tim gathered a small school of fish for their family to eat when they heard Dick and Jason screaming.

"_Stay hidden!_" Bruce yelled at Tim, before racing to the surface. "_Jason! Dick!_"

"_Bruce!_"

"_Get these damn things off us! Bruce!_"

To his horror, men had his sons in nets and a ship was hauling them on board. They struggled and screamed. Jason slashed harshly at the net, growling and hissing in anger, his teeth bared. Dick hissed, trying to get the smaller nets off his hands.

The worst part was he saw the humans throwing bombs into the water. They were trying to find them. Soon the bombs drove out Tim, who was swimming as fast as he could away from them. A net snagged him, but Bruce ripped it open and grabbed his son, making a run for it.

Tim's tail had a cut in it, leaving a small trail of blood floating in the water as his son looked up at him. "_Bruce...? What do we do?_"

Bruce was going to find his older sons if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

Dick huddled in a corner of the tank he'd been put into. Jason wasn't anywhere he could see, and he was scared to death, but he had to think of a plan and think of it fast. It was when someone started to come up to the tank that it hit him.

* * *

Slade heard his son laughing. "What?"

"Look at this, pops. This mermaid likes to copy." Jericho laughed and waved dramatically into the tank. The merman with the blue tail copied. "See? I think he likes the attention. Watch this. Roll."

Slade watched as his son swung his arm in a circulation motion and the merman started to go around in circles.

"See?"

"Yes. It seems like these beasts can be tamed."

* * *

"_This plan is stupid,_" Jason grumbled as they both swam around the large swimming pool that was their new home. "_I ain't going to roll over and play dumb._"

"_Jay it's not like we have a choice. If we gain their trust then maybe we can go home._"

Jason hated the idea.

But really there was no other option.

* * *

Dick hated it. He forced himself to smile sweetly as some human petted his head like a dog. He cooed though, pretending he liked it as his trainer kept his attention while others examined him. They took blood, and he turned to watch them.

Both of them were on a platform that only had about three inches of water. They had things around their necks that had poles attached to them in order to keep them from leaving. It reminded Dick of when he used to live on the land and they would take stray dogs away with these things on their necks. However, Dick was sticking to his plan much better than his brother was.

Jason was growling at the human who was handling him. He didn't mind the blood too much, but he smacked the man in the face with his tail when he tried to pull off a scale. It wasn't hard enough to kill but just enough to make the man bleed. Jason hissed when they tried again and tried to jump back into the water only to be pulled back.

"Let him go," a voice said suddenly.

Everyone, including Slade, looked up at the strange old man walking towards them with a plastic bag filled with strange looking fish. Dick tensed and looked at Jason, who was frowning at the man.

They knew the story.

A human man who brings mers delicious fish and used to catch and train them to do tricks for the land dwellers.

"Sir, it took us awhile to catch him…" the man said, looking unsure. "If we let him go, it will take us hours to catch him again."

"Let him go," the man said, and waved his hand as if shooing something.

They took off the restraints and Jason hissed and looked at Dick. "_Screw this, you handle it._"

"_Jay!_"

"_No!_" Jason swam away.

Dick hissed when he felt someone trying to pull a scale off.

"Stop. You can't get the scale that way," the man said. "It's rather painful for mermaids. Let me show you."

Dick tensed as the man came closer and gently hovered his hand over his tail before carefully taking hold of one scale and pulling it off gently. Dick frowned when he didn't feel pain. That was strange.

"You see? You have to take the ones that are falling off. Now, let him go."

"I want them trained right away." Slade glared.

"Then you'll need to starve them for a week." The man chuckled lightly. "Hungry mermaids come to you and there is no need to chase them."

Slade smirked as he stared at the two mers at the bottom of tank, their blue eyes watching, and for a second he wondered if they understood.

Little did he know they both understood just fine.

* * *

**Mermaids~**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Batman**

**Let us thank L. VanDattae**

* * *

"Pops, this is wrong." Jericho sighed as he sat on the side of the pool. "They're hungry… look at them, they haven't moved since yesterday."

The two mermaids both lay at the bottom of the pool looking almost dead. They hadn't been fed in six days. The smaller one had come back out of the pool seeking food two days ago, and apparently the man, whose name was Grant the Mermaid Trainer, had told them not to feed them. The next day both had come out for food and had not been fed.

It made Jericho sick. "Look at them… they're starving…"

"Maybe tomorrow," Slade said, as he watched the workers around the area as they built what would be the stage for his pets to perform on once they were trained. "For now they'll be fine."

Rolling his eyes, Jericho looked into the water and saw one of them looking up at him. Glancing over at his dad, he pulled out a couple of pieces of raw fish and dropped them into the water. The blue-tailed mermaid swam up quickly, snatching up the pieces, and quickly stuffed one into his mouth, eating it before taking the other two strips of fish to his friend. The red-tailed one ate it quickly.

Smiling, Jericho looked back at his dad. "Hey, Pops, what if I can get them to do a trick? If I can get them to do that, can I feed them?"

"They're not going to do any tricks for you, son," Slade said, as he watched the large pool being filled with water. "Besides, it will take a few months to train them to obey and longer to get them to do tricks."

"But what if I did?"

Grunting, Slade waved his hand back at his son. "Fine. If you can get them to do a trick, I'll let you feed them."

"All right." Jericho looked into the water and saw both of them looking at him. Putting his hand into the water, he waved it around, urging them to come up to the surface with a piece of fish. "Come on…"

They came up slowly, almost unsure. He noticed that the blue one looked unsure and the red one looked like he wanted to kill him. He urged them closer before he let the fish go. They split the food. At least they knew how to share. That meant they must be related.

Patting the water, he waited for them to peek out at him him before whispering, "Come on, one trick and you can eat, okay?"

The smaller one tilted his head.

"Jump!" Jericho said, throwing his hand up.

They vanished under the water, swimming all the way to the bottom.

Slade barked out a laugh. "It seems your little plan has failed."

"I think I scared them," Jericho said, and patted the water again as they popped up. "Hey, you two, come on… down…" He lowered his hand slowly and then shot it up. "And jump!"

They went back under the water, swimming back to the bottom. Slade snorted, crossing his arms.

Jericho could see something in their eyes, so he put his hand under the water and they came swimming up as fast as they could. He threw his hand up, yelling, "Jump!" and the two jumped up out of the water a good seven feet before diving back down.

"Ha!" Jericho said, jumping up, running towards a room where they kept the fish, and scooping a bucket of them into a pale before running back out. "I told you. Come on you two, lunch time!"

Slade was shocked as he watched his son toss the fish into the water. The mermaids ate the fish greedily, their stomachs finally feeling free of pain. His son sat back near the pool, grinning.

"See, Pops? I told you."

"Yes," Slade said, and then his eyes went wide as he saw the blue one rushing up towards his son. "Jericho, get out of the way!"

Jericho jumped a little when the mermaid popped out of the pool, but relaxed when it didn't attack him but rather laid down next to him, smiling up at him, purring. It cooed out much like the Orca whales did, but it wasn't as high pitched and it almost seemed as if it was meant as a thank you.

Smiling, Jericho petted the mermaid's head and looked at his dad. "See, Pops? He liked attention. Maybe you should just let me train them."

"Hmph," Slade said, walking over to them. "You have one that likes you, but the other one won't be as easy, and as far as training goes, you can help. Might as well do something useful."

"Whatever," Jericho said, before patting the mermaid's back. "All right, buddy, back into the water."

The mermaid looked at him.

"Oh," Jericho pointed to the water. "Go."

Dick dove back into the water, swimming over to Jason.

Jason snorted. "_Such a good little pet._"

_"Shut. The. Hell. Up._"

* * *

Dick missed Bruce.

He missed Tim.

He missed the ocean.

Lying there on the bottom of the tank was horrible. It was restricting. Only wide enough for him to lay down if he was laying straight and only about eight feet high. Filled with water of course, and one foot of air should he need it.

Jason was next door in the other tank. His must have felt more cramped though, since Jason was bigger. They could still talk through the glass since it wasn't sound proofed, but that was about it. They couldn't sleep next to each other, and that was terrible.

Merfamilies always slept with each other, and here the humans had separated them. They didn't let them be near each other at night. Didn't they know that merfolk families used their time asleep as a way of healing each other, bringing each other comfort? It was a bonding time. Dick remembered when he had first started to live with Bruce after he had "died," and he hadn't noticed it right away because then he never wanted to leave Bruce's side, curling up on the giant merman's back to sleep.

After a year and after gaining Jason as a brother, he'd noticed it. They fought to sleep on Bruce's back, which lead to them sleeping in either of his arms at night, and once, when they had decided that they were too old for that (since human children didn't sleep with their parents at that age), they both settled on rocks in the cave away from Bruce.

A day later Dick swam back over and curled up near the merman. Bruce had chuckled but hadn't said anything else. Jason was stubborn, so it took another day for him to wander back over to them. When apart, it felt like icy prickles all over. Bruce explained that in their kind the children didn't leave their parents until they were fully grown. When asked how long that would take, Bruce had commented that it depended on the person.

Dick asked Bruce when he'd left his parents and felt guilty when Bruce told them that they had been killed by a fisher when he was eight. After that, they didn't talk about it anymore. Jason hadn't been fully convinced until one Sun Day another mermaid had shown up with all her daughters and they'd all curled around her at night. When she'd asked Bruce how many children he had, he'd said two, and she'd given him a sad look and told him she hoped he had more soon.

Then Tim came along. However, Tim was different. He was born their kind, and right after Bruce had taken him in, that night Tim was curled up on Bruce's back. However, he shook for nearly two weeks, his eyes wide and darting around in fear that his biological father would return to take him away and kill him off.

Jack did come back, and Bruce beat him half to hell when the man started to verbally abuse Tim from what he thought was a safe distance. It took about a year but Tim's shaking finally stopped, and he stayed close to Bruce no matter what.

The four of them had been together since then, and since merfolk grew slowly, he wasn't sure if it had been seven years or maybe longer. How long? How long had it been since he was turned into a mermaid?

As Dick thought, the water started to drain in his and Jason's tank. "_Jason! What's happening?!_"

"_The hell would I know!_" Jason yelled, as the water got lower and lower until it was gone. "_Damn it…_"

"_Do you think… do you think they're going to kill us?_" Dick looked around in fear that it would be the end.

Slade appeared with two collars in his hands. One blue and one red and both had something written on them. He smirked at them before waving at some humans, who came forward with dart guns. Dick looked at Jason with a pleading look.

"_Please, Jay, just go with it… please._"

"_I ain't a dog!_"

"_Don't you want to go home, Jay?_" Dick whimpered. "_Home to Bruce and Tim?_"

Jason had to bite his tongue. He did want to go home. He wanted out of this hell hole! So when Slade got close, instead of attacking, he lifted up his chin, closing his eyes tight, trying to think of anything else as something clasped around his neck.

Doing the same, Dick picked up his head as the thing was placed on him, a clicking heard in the back, and the man chuckled.

"Seems our little friends like humans after all," Slade said, tilting their heads up with his hands. "You two will bring me great fortune."

"_We'll go home, right?_" Jason asked, as he kept his face as clueless as possible.

"_Yes…_" Dick sighed sadly, leaning into the unwanted touch, letting out a fake happy cooing. "_Home…_"

* * *

Jericho frowned as he watched the two mermaids swim around with the collars on their necks. He patted the water and they both came up to look at him. They were probably hungry again, so he tossed in some fish. Instead of going to the bottom to eat, they ate and watched him almost as if they were talking about him, and it was then that he saw the names on the collars.

"Nightwing and Red Hood, huh?" Jericho grinned a bit. "Somehow that fits."

* * *

**To Kim: Thank you I hope this is soon enough.**

**To Guest: I'm glad it was good**

**To Guest: We'll see Bruce and Tim soon**

**To Nyx811: Interesting and hopefully intriguing lol**

**To Noon: Yes! We all need Robin Mermaids! XD**

**To REBD: He is isn't he?! I didn't even know Slade had a son until a friend told me about him!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Let us all thank L. VanDattae**

* * *

"Pops, seriously?" Jericho asked, as he watched the nets pick up Nightwing out of the water. "Why separate them if, in the end, you're just going to make them perform together?"

"They need one-on-one training time," Slade said, as he watched them putting Nightwing into a portable tank before pulling the net out. "Besides, it will get things done faster."

"How is it going to get things done faster?" Jericho waved at the tank. "Can't you hear him? He's crying."

"_Actually I'm trying to curse your father,_" Dick whined. "_But that works too. Boohoo, help the poor little mermaid, Jericho, save me... I'm hungry again._"

"You can't know that," Slade said, walking over to the tank and looking at the mermaid. "Besides, I have a feeling they're not as dumb as you think they are, son."

Floating upside down, Dick looked at him with wide eyes and forced a smile on his face. This man might catch onto them. They would have to be very careful around him. Cooing a bit, Dick went into a circle to try and distract him.

"Pops, he just wants attention." Jericho sighed. "Come on, you pretty much ripped their family apart, tossed them into a pool, and on top of that the trainer even said that they depended on each other."

"So, you think you can train them better than the trainer?"

"Sure can." Jericho tapped the tank before pointing to the pool. "Nightwing, go."

Splash.

"Stop doing that." Slade glared as Nightwing swam back to Red Hood after jumping out of the tank.

"I accept your challenge, Pops. I'll have them trained by the time you get back." Jericho patted the water, making the two mermaids pop up. "By the way, where are you going?"

Slade smirked as he walked away. "To get one more mermaid."

Both Dick and Jason looked at each other, wide-eyed. "_Tim._"

* * *

Bruce glared at the boats as they floated around the island. They hadn't left for two weeks since they had captured his two oldest sons. They had set up nets around the island, but they didn't know about the hidden cavern under the land.

A little head pushed up under his chin and Bruce looked down at Tim before looking back up at the boats. He knew what they wanted. They wanted to add Tim to their catch. After all, land dwellers preferred younger merfolk, because they could control them easier than they could full grown mermen.

"_Bruce, I'm hungry,_" Tim said, looking around for anything to eat.

"_Yes, it has been a few days since we ate._" Bruce looked at his son. "_How are you holding up?_"

"_I'm fine. It's just… my stomach's hurting._"

Nodding, Bruce looked around and saw a school of fish, but they were in the spotlights of the humans, and if they dared to get them then they would be spotted. They had to stay out of sight until the boats and humans left. So far they had been eating the fish that had wandered over to them, bust mostly they stayed in the darkness.

A bad thing.

Tim needed the sun.

None of his children were fully grown, and even though both Dick and Jason had gained their colors, they were still dependent on him, and as their father, like other merfolk, he brought his children to the island where they could lie in the sun and absorb it.

He hoped the older two had the sun. He hoped that someone knew enough about merfolk to give them shade, cold water and plenty to eat. Bruce really hoped that the both of them were okay. Thoughts of all the horrible things that could happen to them filled his mind until he heard Tim whimper as his stomach growled.

Gritting his teeth, Bruce glared up at the boats. If they weren't there he would have caught plenty of fish or other things for his son to eat. What made it worse was Tim was too small. He needed to grow and grow soon.

"_Bruce?_"

"_Yes?_"

"_What if I sing?_" Tim asked, looking at the fish. "_Would they come to me?_"

Bruce looked down at Tim. "_Do you think you can?_"

"_I could try_." Tim took a deep breath (of water, of course) before singing.

It was beautifully haunting, just like a song for their kind should be. Bruce felt proud as the fish started to follow the sound, and once they were in the hidden cave, Bruce hypnotized them so they would stay in place as they ate them.

Tim ate five without complaint and Bruce ate ten. "_You should eat more._"

"_I'm fine, Tim. Besides, we have to ration out food._"

"_Oh, I'm sorry,_" Tim said, looking at the mostly eaten fifth fish guiltily.

"_No, you have to eat or you could get sick. I don't need to. Come on, the sun's setting and we need to rest,_" Bruce said, as he gathered the fish and put them into a pocket of the cave before putting a larger rock over it so they couldn't get out. "_There. Now then, let's get some sleep._"

They settled on a rock that was cloaked in darkness. Bruce laid down first. Tim curled up on his father before closing his eyes, falling asleep. Bruce wrapped his arms around him. That was another thing to be worried about. A starving child was bad. Tim never went to sleep that easily. He often stayed up for hours just lying next to or on him until he fell asleep, so this was another bad sign.

Sighing deeply, Bruce held him tighter, trying to block out the sound of the boats and the bombs the humans were throwing into the water to try and drive them out. As they slept, it sounded like thunder raging on and on.

* * *

"All right," Jericho said, sighing deeply and looking at Red Hood. "Just… one trick, okay?"

Red Hood was scowling at him from where he was perched on the water platform, resting his chin on one hand and staring at Jericho like he was an idiot, his tail swishing back and forth slowly, judging him.

The mermaid hadn't tried to do a trick all morning, and now that it was noon, there was still no progress with Red Hood. Sighing, Jericho waved a fish and watched the teal eyes follow it with the same bored expression.

"Come on, please? One trick?"

Red Hood scoffed, tail swishing faster now as his eyebrows knitted together. It was clear that he wasn't going to do anything Jericho told him to do. Sighing again, Jericho sat down and pulled out his lunch. Might as well eat if Red Hood was already fed and not moving any time soon.

Opening the bag, he pulled out a sub. Unwrapping it, he wondered how in the world he was going to be able to get Red Hood to listen to what he said. After all, there were books on how to train merfolk from the time mermaids had first been discovered, but all of them included acts of one torment or another. Like with the old man, Grant, starving them.

There had to be some way to get Red Hood interested. After all, Nightwing had been able to do three tricks before deciding he didn't want to anymore and was now swimming around and around the pool, restless, and for some reason liked to spin in circles like under water flips.

Bringing the sandwich up to his mouth, he looked up and nearly had a heart attack. Red Hood was right there less than a half a foot away from him, staring so intensely at him that for a second he thought the mermaid was going to either kill him or kiss him.

Jericho didn't expect the mermaid to snatch the sub right out of his hands and dive back into the water, scurrying away like a thief. Jericho sat there in shock for a full minute before he realized that a mermaid had just stolen his lunch.

"Hey!" Jericho slapped the water. "Hey! Give that back!"

Nightwing floated to the top, peeking out, wondering what was going on. Jericho saw that Red Hood was ignoring him and was quickly pulling the sub apart until it was only bread before eating it quickly. Slapping the water again, Jericho called out again. This time Red Hood gathered the remaining contents of the sub and returned to the platform.

"Bad, Red Hood, bad!" Jericho yelled, and blew a whistle at him. "Understand? Bad!"

Smack!

All the sub's contents hit him in the face, and Jericho swore that the mermaids took off laughing.

* * *

**To REBD: Which name? Jericho? I was told about it by a friend but I didn't know he had a two other kids lol**

**To expat19: Thanks, I hope this is soon enough, lol! I'm into mermaids at the moment**

**To 5-STAR: Thank you 8D**

**To L-VanDattae: I know right?! I love when someone wants to be a mer-person instead of human. I love it being magical and all that. I know the drowning cliché had to be there but I didn't know how to make it without it and I wanted to keep the background of both the older two being adopted but not like Bruce and Tim who were both born into high class families although I did do a twist with Tim's dad though. I needed him out of the way lol. I can't answer any of your questions or I'll give the stories away :O. Yes, I would love a Beta reader but I know not how to give you the chapters D8**

**To Noon: FEELS… THE FEELS! Embrace the feels !**


	4. Chapter 4

**Let us all thank L. VanDattae**

* * *

Slade scanned the island carefully.

They shouldn't have been able to escape. Not with all the nets surrounding the land. Yet all of his men had said they hadn't seen either the small mermaid or the large one. Of course, they could be hiding. If so his men should have found them. A part of Slade told him that he should just leave well enough alone, but the other part of him was stubborn and refused to give up.

As he stared out at the island where the bombs continued to explode in the water, a voice spoke: "You know, you're pretty brave, mister."

Slade looked down to see a little boy standing there in old faded jeans and a red hoodie. Strange. What was a child doing on his ship? The little boy looked at him with a smile, tilting his head when he didn't answer, before reaching out to tug at his shirt.

"Mister?"

Looking back at the sea, Slade smirked. "Bravery has nothing to do with it. I want what I want, and I always get it in the end."

"But you're going after The Bat," the boy said.

"The Bat?" Slade chuckled deeply. "No one has seen that mer-monster in years."

The kid shrugged. "They say he's still out there."

A true fact. The so called Bat was a powerful being, said to have destroyed many ships, submarines, and various other vessels that had been trying to capture mermaids. Powerful he might be, but even he couldn't stop them all. Yet no one had been able to see or catch one in thirty years, and mermaids grew slowly. So either way he could still be alive, and if so, then that meant the ones Slade had caught could be the sons of The Bat… if that were true, he may have angered the mer. However, it could be just another mermaid, because many of them had the same coloring and the three he had seen didn't have black tails. The little one's fins might turn black when he grew older, but there was no guarantee that they would either.

Still, the possibility was a high one. No one had ever seen The Bat up close, so it could be true. As Slade pondered this, a large bang hit the side of his ship, causing him to grip onto the railing. The kid slipped off the deck. Another bang followed and this time he recognized it as something hitting the side of the ship harshly. Looking over the side of the ship, he saw a shadow in the water rush forward and hit the side.

The bang happened again as the shadow came rushing at them. It was clear what the merman was up to. He was trying to flip the ship over. As the bangs continued, the alarms started to blare. Leaving the deck, Slade went to the other side while all the sailors started to prepare to fill the life boats. He scanned the water and almost barked a laugh as he saw a green-tailed mermaid sneaking past the distracted men and trying to escape.

"Found you." Slade chuckled darkly before yelling at some men. "Get the cannon net ready!"

"But sir! The ship!"

"I don't care!" Slade yelled. "I'm not leaving without that mermaid! Get the cannon ready!"

* * *

Jericho cut the fresh-out-of-the-oven loaves of bread into small pieces before putting them into a bucket wrapped up in a cloth towel. He had finally figured it out. Red Hood liked bread. That was something he could use to get the mermaid to listen to him and hopefully do some tricks.

Grabbing his things, he walked out of his house before getting into his jeep and driving the ten minutes to his father's new theme park. They would be done soon. That meant once the water filled the giant tank and the tubes the mermaids would be expected to preform. No doubt his father was already selling tickets and had thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. The scales they had pulled off the mermaids were already selling for a great amount of money.

Pulling into the parking lot, Jericho got out of the jeep, making sure to grab the bucket of hot bread. Twirling his keys, he headed to the door, punching in his pass-code before entering. Once inside he heard wailing screeches.

Eyes wide in worry, he ran down the long hallway, following the wailing, when he came to where they kept Nightwing and Red Hood at night and slammed the doors open.

Red Hood was thrashing around at the bottom of the water-less floor of his tank. For a second Jericho thought that they had left him out of the water until he saw that trainer, Grant, standing there, holding a cattle prod that was crackling. Nightwing was looking on in horror from his own tank, scratching desperately at the glass, trying to get to his friend.

As Red Hood continued to thrash around, his body racked with pain, he attacked anything around him. Once it started to subside a little, Red Hood turned on Grant, hissing in anger before swiping at him when the man took a few steps closer. When Grant aimed the prod at him though, Red Hood backed away, growling, his eyes holding hate for the man and maybe even the desire to kill.

Angry himself, Jericho stepped forward. "Enough!"

"I have orders from Mr. Wilson to help with their training," Grant said.

"I'm in charge of their training." Jericho glared. "I didn't approve this."

"I have permission from your father." Grant took out a paper. "You can read it over if you like."

Taking it, Jericho started to read through it. As he did, he failed to notice that the water in Nightwing's tank started to drain. Nightwing noticed and started to panic, swimming around the small tank before curling up in a corner, deeming it slightly deeper as the water lowered until he had none left to swim. He screeched when Grant came closer.

Head snapping up from the paper, Jericho yelled, "Leave them the hell alone!"

"I'm training them."

"No, you're not!" Jericho said, pushing the man away. "I'm in charge of their training and no one else!"

Slamming his hand on the button that refilled the tanks with water and opened the sliding glass doors that lead out to the pool, Jericho looked on as both mermaids scattered away. Red Hood's body still twitched as he left, speeding so fast that Nightwing had trouble keeping up.

Turning back, Jericho confronted Grant. "How many times did you shock him?"

"Not enough to kill him."

"How many times?" Jericho demanded.

"Twice."

After yelling at the man some more, Jericho went out to the pool. Out there Red Hood was on the water platform, twitching and rolling over, shaking his head before going back under the water only to continue to thrash around before getting back on the platform and jumping back off. Nightwing looked on, worry written all over his face.

Finally Red Hood left to haul himself up onto the fake rock near the other side of the pool and laid down on his stomach, breathing deeply with his arms crossed, face hidden. Nightwing peeked out of the water before pulling himself out, laying next to Red Hood and nudging closer, trying to check and see if his friend or brother (Jericho had yet to figure it out) was all right. When Red Hood didn't respond, Nightwing got closer, their sides touching.

Suddenly Nightwing was knocked off, letting out a loud yelp. Red Hood looked pissed off as he pushed his friend off before going back to trying to recover from being electrocuted. Less than a minute later Nightwing peeked up over the rock before slowly pulling himself up. Even slower this time, he scooted over to Red Hood. When Red Hood glared at him, Nightwing went limp, turning his head away as if the bigger mermaid wouldn't see him that way.

Sitting down, Jericho frowned, his eyebrows knitted. Something was going on here. The way they were acting. Did they understand what had happened? Could it be…? Watching closer, he saw them having a conversation through the sounds they made. Each sentences that sounded like cooing echoes held emotions. Emotions of concern, anger, and hurt.

The sounds stopped after Red Hood shoved Nightwing off the rock three more times, before he finally let the other back on. Jericho let them rest for about an hour, just watching them. It was clear that Red Hood didn't want to accept the help and comfort Nightwing was trying to offer, but after he did let Nightwing help, he seemed relieved.

Kneeling down, Jericho ran his hand over the water before patting it.

Nightwing sat up immediately, looking at him. He had learned the signal easily enough, knowing that that was when he should go to Jericho. However, he stared at him not moving this time, so Jericho hit the water a little harder. Nightwing's tail swished back and forth for a few seconds before he jumped into the water and swam over.

"Hey, Nightwing," Jericho said softly. "Is Red Hood all right?"

Nightwing made a noise that Jericho took for a 'No' before tossing a piece of bread at him. The mermaid looked at it before taking it back to the rock, placing it on there and waiting for the other to look at it. A few minutes passed with Red Hood just staring at the little piece before he ate it slowly. After that he went back to just staring out at the water.

"Red Hood," Jericho called, patting the water. "Come here, buddy… you can have the bread and you don't even have to do a trick."

Red Hood just looked at him before slowly swimming over, taking the offered food and eating. Jericho had planned on using the bread to get the mermaid to do tricks, but after the torture it was all right to just give him what he liked to eat. Red Hood ate most of the bread before going back to the rock, laying down with Nightwing lying next to him, chewing on the last of the bread that Red Hood left behind.

A few seconds later Red Hood shoved Nightwing off again and stole the last few bites that the blue-tailed one had made into a little pile.

Jericho laughed. "I guess he really loves bread."

* * *

Tim swam carefully through the water. Looking back a few times, he saw Bruce distracting the land dwellers when something let out a loud bang. Jumping over the net, Tim started to swim away when something snagged his upper body. A net wrapped its way around his upper body.

"_Bruce...!_" Tim screamed, as the weights on the net started to drag him down. "_Bruce...!_"

"_Hold on, Tim!_"

Strong arms pulled the net off him and Tim grinned up happily at his father. The merman was amazing, the best person in the entire world. Yet it seemed the entire world was bent on taking this powerful merman away from him. In a split second, Bruce grunted, eyes wide and staring at Tim before the water began to turn red with blood.

"_No!_" Tim screamed, arms reaching for Bruce when another hand dove into the water, yanking him out. "_Bruce! No, Bruce!_"

Someone wrapped him into a net while a man with a white beard and an eye patch pulled out a gun.

"Now then," Slade said, firing two rounds into the water. "Now that that's taken care of..." He pulled the small mermaid up, net and all. "We can get you to your new home... Robin."

"_Bruce...?_" Tim whimpered. "_Bruuuuuuuccccccceeeeeeee...!_"

The boats pulled away with the mermaid screaming and crying for the loss of its father. Thinking himself successful, Slade pulled the small mermaid around in the net before holding it by the side of the boat.

"You're mine now. Might as well accept that..."

A black tail rose out of the sea, knocking Slade across the other side of the ship, where he barreled into several actual barrels. Men scrambled to him, since the man seemed to be out cold.

A large upper body hoisted itself up from the water, a pure devil form hell with all the blood that surrounded him. With one hand he snatched up the small merchild, tearing the net open, before plunging back into the water.

Tim swam as fast as he could next to Bruce when they saw someone up ahead floating in the cold water. Someone must have fallen out of the boats. However, the body was small. For a second Tim wondered if the other child was dead, but they had no time to stop, so Bruce grabbed the child by his waist and used the other one to grab Tim, swimming off as fast as they could. On the way there, Bruce left the child on the island for his own kind to find before grabbing Tim and making a break now that the humans were highly distracted.

"_Bruce, are you all right?!_" Tim cried, still seeing the trails of blood. "_We need to stop somewhere so I can heal you._"

"_There's a place we can go. Just about an hour's_ _swim_."

"_No! It has to be sooner!_"

"_I have an idea, Tim, and I need you to listen to me before it's too late._"

* * *

**I fell out of a tree today... because of a stupid bet... please enjoy and drop a comment.**

**To REBD: I just tossed the names in there.**

**To L. VanDattae: I hope I did the connections thing right. I'm not sure if I did. Thanks you for your review it has give me ideas on other things I wish to add to the story. You wrote a Mer-fic? Awesome! What's it about?**

**Okay since iM a little bit high at the moment from the meds they gave me at the hospital I want to answer some questions:**

**1. Yes they can speak Human if they wanted they just choose not to.**

**2. Cooing (Orca sounds is how their able to talk to one another under and above water.**/p

**3. Yes, Tim, is very cute, no I will not have Tim getting raped.**

**4. Bruce is powerful but he's not a god in this story (Sorry Diana)**

**5. Please leave nice long reviews because galling out of a tree for something dumb and than having your back feel like it's on fire sucks and they won't let me leave here. Make a stay in a little more fun, huh?**


	5. Chapter 5

"_Get off my rock._"

Dick swished his tail, looking at him_. _"_No. This is the only rock here, and besides, you could use some company._"

Growling, Jason went back to looking away. _"I'm fine, now go away._"

"_No,_" Dick huffed. _"You got hurt pretty bad._"

_"I'm fine now, leave it alone!_" Jason hissed. "_Now shut the hell up, I'm trying to sleep._"

They were silent for a long time, the only thing that happened was Dick moving about, trying to find something to do since he wasn't used to holding still. Twice Jason swatted him to get him to stop, only to have him wiggling again a few minutes later.

"_Dick, go somewhere else,_" Jason growled, getting ready to shove his brother off again.

"_No…!_" Dick moaned loudly, plopping dramatically onto his back, stretching_. _"_I'm so bored and I want Bruce…!_"

Smack!

"_Stop hitting me with your tail!_" Dick smacked him back_. _"_It's not my fault you're in a bad mood!_"

"_At least I'm not crying for daddy!_"

"_Like hell you are!_" Dick shoved him_. _"_You were calling for him last night!_"

* * *

Growling, hissing, and the slapping of tails caught Jericho's attention from where he was sitting on a bench going over ideas on what he could use to train the mermaids, and he looked up to see the two of them fighting. It was a bit violent. They were using their claws, teeth, and tails, and they were shoving and pushing, trying to knock each other off.

Sighing, Jericho blew the whistle, trying to get their attention. They continued to fight each other until Red Hood managed to push Nightwing off. A second later Nightwing jumped back onto the rock, shoving Red Hood off. They continued this for another good five minutes before Jericho slapped the water hard, calling to them.

Both of them jumped off the rock, swimming towards him. When they came out of the water they were still growling and hissing at each other. Jericho slapped the water again, getting their attention.

"All right, enough of that!"

Red Hood swiped at him, hissing.

"Hey!" Jericho yelled. "Cut it out!"

Growling, Red Hood backed away slightly.

"I know you're upset," Jericho sighed. "But now it's over. I get the feeling you two understand more than anyone thinks, so here's the deal: you guys need to learn the tricks and perform them, okay?"

Splash!

Not amused, Jericho spit out the water. "Let me rephrase that… do the tricks or my father is going to let Grant shock the hell out of you two."

They looked at each other before looking back at Jericho, who grinned at them. Taking out a bucket of fish and bread, he set it just out of reach of them.

"All right, let's start training…" Jericho patted the water. "Ready? And… jump!"

Nightwing jumped.

Red Hood stole the bucket of bread.

* * *

Slade was in a foul mood once he returned to the Ocean Waters Aquarium where his two pets were to start performing soon. He had lost the youngest mermaid, damn it! So close… he was so close to having three of them and now that chance was gone!

Going into his office, he poured himself a strong drink. After downing it, he sat in his chair before turning on the TV. It was showing news coverage about the Ocean Waters and how it would be opened to everyone as soon as it was completed. So far the public was excited and buying tickets like crazy. They would be disappointed if his son had failed to train them.

Taking another swig from the bottle, Slade went out to see how the training was going.

"Son."

"Yes, Pops?"

"What the hell are they doing?"

Jericho looked up to see both Nightwing and Red Hood staring at a couple of people there for news coverage. The small group was taking pictures of the mermaids, trying to ask questions they couldn't possibly answer. Yet they both stayed there on the water platform, watching them. Nightwing reached out for the cameras a couple of times, trying to touch them, but the reporters pulled them back.

"Well, pretty sure there's nothing in the ocean like that, so they're curious." Jericho laughed. "By the way, Pops, where is it?"

"Where is what?"

"The third mermaid you were bringing back?"

Growling, Slade glared at him. "It was delayed. Now, tell me… Grant says you stopped him during training."

"They're not his to train." Jericho glared back.

"They belong to me, not you." Slade looked back just in time to see Nightwing pulling someone's hat off and playing with it. "Besides, I can see they're not trained at all."

Frowning, Jericho leaned down, patting the water. "They're just not used to people."

The two mermaids dove into the water, swimming away from the reporters, who chattered excitedly, trying to get in one last snapshot. One reporter, however, was trying to fish his hat out of the pool, nearly falling in as he did so. Nightwing and Red Hood popped out of the water, looking at Jericho.

"They'll get used to them once the shows start," Jericho said, waving his hand around. "Trust me, they'll be fine without being tortured."

Slade watched the mermaids spin in a circle together. "Tell me that is not all they can do."

"Of course not." Jericho looked offended. "Nightwing, Red Hood, jump!"

Spash!

"See," Jericho said, although inside he was thanking god that Red Hood had chosen to listen to him.

"Hm, what else can they do?"

"You do know you were only gone for like three days, right? It takes more time than that," Jericho tried to reason as he tossed in two pieces of bread. "Besides, most people train them in a year's time."

"Well then, son, you have two weeks, and then if nothing happens, Grant will take over." Slade chuckled before looking at him.

"Fine." Jericho picked up the buckets before looking at the mermaids, who were watching him. He grinned. "Splash."

"Jericho!" Slade yelled as he was soaked in water.

* * *

Three weeks later Slade had to admit he was impressed that Jericho had trained the mermaids to do almost any trick. They'd only been open a week and people were forking over money to get a chance at seeing the mermaids. It was truly amazing how many people tried to cram into the showing, and three showings a day, each two hours long.

It was going wonderfully.

Then one day Slade was out walking along the coast to meet a date when he saw something small perched on a rock. No. No, it couldn't be. Not the little mermaid that escaped, surely! Slade made his way over to the shore where there were many rocks, making it difficult to get to him.

The small mermaid was indeed the one he had been after. He still had the scratches on his body from the net that had snagged him. Pale, much like the others, he had the same silver scales going up from his lower back to mid back. His tail was tattered in some places, a sign that something had happened.

The mermaid was sound asleep or knocked out cold. Either way, it didn't notice Slade approaching, nor did it startle when he checked to make sure it was alive. It must have been separated from its father. That was the only explanation. It must have been looking for its family and found its brothers' scents leading here. Poor little mermaid thinking it was safe.

Carefully picking up the small mermaid, Slade repressed the laughter that wanted to rise up as he made his way back to Ocean Waters. He missed the blue eyes watching every move he made and the voice that echoed to the small merchild.

"_Good boy, Tim, good boy._"

Tim's eyes peeked at Bruce before going back to pretending to be asleep.

* * *

**EARLY UPDATE... BECAUSE I CANNOT SLEEP...**

**To Sairey13: Yes Jason and Dick have powers but everyone has a different one.**

**To REBD: He's like twenty two.**

**To Guest: No, the little boy on the ship wasn't Damian. I think Damian would have been rude rather than nice on the ship anyways XD**

**To Noon: Me too! Stupid bet! Stupid tree! I only fell like right feet but that hurts like hell! Aquaman... IDK.**

**To 5-STAR:Poor Jason...**

**To L. VanDattae: I want to tell you but you'll have to wait! But you are right he is important to the story line! Bruce habits of rescuing child die hard. (Or as my friend likes to call it Kidnapping Orphans.) Tumblr! I should have known, come to me tumblr! How many did you write? Mines going to be focused on Tim since he's the reason I started it and I started it form seeing the clip on youtube where mer hand and face show up. CREEPY.**

**PS: The tree knocked me down I swear!**


	6. THIS GOT LEFT OUT OF THE LAST CHAPTER

Jericho was watching the mermaids swimming around in their new home. They had taken to it well. Than again Jericho figured it was because they had been used to the wide open sea so the large preforming pool was a welcome place to play, swim, eat and entertain people. For some reason Red Hood Ignored him completely during training but went along with the tricks when it was time to start the show.

Now they were swimming around looking at all the things they had been given. A tacky clam shell lay there at the bottom anchored down. Nightwing had swam into laying on the foam pillow when the top closed suddenly with Red Hood snickering as he held it shut. Jericho patted the water to get him to stop. Across the way was a skull that looked like a it was taken right out of a pirate movie.

No surprise that Red Hood liked it. He was contently half hanging out of one eye looking at Nightwing who had decided he wanted to say his lunch and was gathering fish into the clam before closing it and bring a fake rock over to keep it closed. The liked the new platform too. It went from no layer water and slowly it went to a foot of water. It was big enough to have them up there for the shows and room to give them food and snacks.

At the moment Jericho was in the middle of sitting in his wet suit fixing Nightwing's collar to it wouldn't be so tight. Early he had noticed the blue tailed tugged and rubbing at his neck. He had called over Nightiwng who swam over and seemed to know what he was going to do because he lifted up his neck. The damn thing was hard to loosen. It was a struggle.

Nightwing cried out in complaint.

"Sorry, buddy." Jericho sighed still trying to get the thing to budge. "Almost go it."

"Naaaahhhh!"

"Shit!" Jericho let go. "Did that hurt?!"

Nightiwng whined rubbing his neck but stayed there wanting it to stop hurting. Reaching back to it Jericho started to mess with again until it finally gave way half an inch. It was still to tight though. Another inch would do fine. Puling on it more he was making progress when he noticed that someone... or rather a certain mermaid was digging through his lunch. Rolling his eyes Jericho refused ot give Red Hood the satisfaction of his anger so he continued to loosen the thing on Nightwing's neck until it was comfortable.

Just as he was done and an apple was floating by both of them suddenly jolted up stirght looking up eyes wide going copletly still. Looking at the spot he saw his Father walking in with a sack on his back looking rather happy with himself. Standing up Jericho folded his arms wondering what his Father was up to now when he noticed that the sack was struggling desperately when Slade put it down and from the other side of the pool dumped something into it.

Nightwing and Red Hood both drove into the water swimming as fast as they could to the little green thing in the water. A head popped up gasping looking around before it was tackled by the older mermaids and soon happy/sad cooing filled the arena.

Frowing Jericho stood up making his way around the pool to stand next to his father. "So, you found him? Kind of small."

"Yes, but now I have all three. A fine collection and soon I will have enough money to gain even more mermaids."

"Isn't three enough?"

"Of course not. Why settle for three when I cna have more?"

Jericho didn't like it but he did smile as he watched Red Hood and Nightwing pretty much squeezing the poor little mermaid to death between them.


	7. Chapter 7

**A special thank you to L. VanDattae for betaing! **

* * *

"_Bruce, I don't want to..._"

Rubbing Tim's back, Bruce looked concerned. "_I know, Tim, but it's the only way. We tracked them all the way to this 'Ocean Waters' place. Both of your brothers are in there and I need you to go in there, make sure they're safe and get them out. All you have to do it get the gates open that lead to the ocean and I can handle the rest._"

"_I know, but..._" Tim's eyes darted around as if someone was watching nearby. "_You won't be there... and... and I don't want to do this alone._"

Pulling his son into a strong hug, Bruce sighed. "_Tim, you won't be alone. Both Dick and Jason will be with you. I know how you feel about being to far away from me, however I promise it will only be for a little while._"

It made Tim extremely nervous to do this without Bruce. Since becoming a part of the family, Tim knew of his anxieties of being far from Bruce. He was well aware of how he would panic being too far from him. When he was young and with his Father and Mother, they had often threatened to leave him behind if he didn't keep up. That fear of being left alone with no one around had been enough to keep up with them until the day his mother died.

After that day Jack had become violent, often blaming Tim for her death. One of his favorite things to do was attack Tim without any notice or warning. It had been on one of these attacks that Bruce happened to be swimming by, looking for his two sons who had decided to play a game of hide and seek. It had shocked him that someone would step in, seeing as no one had before.

Bruce had swum right up to Jack, shoving him away. Shocked, Tim had hidden behind the large Merman hoping for relief from the pain, his small form shaking. Bruce had growled out a warning to Jack. Suddenly there was a fight between them. It only lasted for a few minutes before it ended with Jack running away. Tim had tried to follow but Bruce pulled him back claiming that he was now his. His what, Tim couldn't understand at the time until Bruce took him to a cave where he explained it.

After that day, Tim had become Bruce's third son.

It excited him a lot. He had heard about the Great Bruce Wayne of the sea. More excited when he met his older brothers. Dick had been easy to get along with. Jason took about eight months, but after that Jason had been protective. All of them had been shocked about Tim's age when he told them. The only thing good that came out of it was that Dick stopped baby talking him. Still they often treated him like he was younger than he was.

Their life had been near perfect.

Now it wasn't perfect.

It was broken.

Split.

And according to Bruce he was the only one who could bring them back together, but the thought and the knowledge of being separated form his adoptive Father...

"_Shhh,_" Bruce comforted, rubbing his back. "_It's going to be all right, Tim, I promise. It'll only be for a little while._"

Crying a bit more, Tim nodded, knowing that it had to be done. So, after waiting for a few hours until that monster of a land dweller came down for his morning walk, Bruce helped Tim onto a rock where he pretended to be asleep. He didn't even move when the man approached him or moved him a bit. Once he was being taken away, that feeling of being cut off from both the ocean and Bruce made him want to scream. He heard Bruce call to him, telling him that he was a good boy, and it calmed him down a bit.

It wasn't until he got out of sight that Tim couldn't handle the pressure weighing down on him and he jolted, nearly being dropped to the ground. A minute later he was hauled into the building before being thrown into a sack! Thrashing at it, he struggled, feeling trapped, suffocated, and his heart was pounding so hard he thought that the whole sea could hear it despite him being on the land.

Suddenly the bag was overturned and he was tossed into water. Relief filled him for only a second when he felt the change in water. Not something he was used to but at least cold enough to live it. Popping out of the water, he gasped into the air before looking around, startled at seeing a land dweller place for the first time in his life.

It was ended by two familiar bodies slamming into him, trapping him between them.

"_Timmy!_"

"_Tim!_"

"_Dick! Jason!_" Tim cried happily, hugging back, their tails all swishing happily. "_Are you two alright?!_"

"_Yeah!_" Dick nuzzled his head. "_I'm so happy to see you!_"

* * *

Jericho looked up from the book he was reading.

After his Father had left, he'd decided to let the mermaids have their little reunion. He figured that this new mermaid might have been the youngest in their family. Both Nightwing and Red Hood seemed so happy to see the little green-tailed mermaid that he didn't have the heart to make them train at the moment.

They were showing him all around their area where they preformed. Nigthwing wanted the small one to see his favorite place, which was that clam shell, and while he was showing it off, Red Hood closed it again trapping the blue-tailed one inside. The small mermaid looked like he was giggling and even more so when Nightwing pushed it back open and started to argue with Red Hood.

"So, he found him," a voice said. "No surprise there, huh?"

Smiling, Jericho stood up. "Hey, Wally, what's up?"

Wally West shrugged. "Stopped by to make sure that everything was running smoothly. Aaaaand... Your dad said to give you this."

Taking the collar, Jericho sighed. It was a green one, the same color of the new mermaid. "He decided to name him Robin?"

"Yeah," Wally crossed his arms. "Named a mermaid after a bird."

"Yeah." Jericho laughed before sitting down on one of the rocks next to the side. "So, how have you been? Haven't seen you since you started to build the arena and home for the mermaids."

Wally took a seat next to him. "Been pretty busy since Bart's parents died."

"Oh that's right." Jericho frowned. "How's he doing?"

"Better now. Before he didn't talk, and you know how that kid can talk. So, Mermaid Trainer..." Wally grinned. "How's it feel to be training not one, but three mermaids?"

"Well, Nightwing listens way better than Red Hood, but between you and me I think Red Hood is mocking me most of the time. I don't know how Robin's going to do yet since he barely got here a couple of hours ago."

"First time I've seen them up close." Wally said. "Hey, think I can meet them? I want to get a picture for Bart."

"Sure." Jericho leaned down to the water, patting it. "Nightwing! Nightwing, come here!"

Nightwing came swimming over with both Red Hood and the new one following. When they popped up, Nightwing was grinning ear to ear before he suddenly looked as if he had been slapped in the face, staring at Wally wide-eyed, mouth hanging open in shock.

"Whoa," Wally grinned. "What's up with him? Never seen a red head before?"

"Strange, he's never acted like that before." Jericho stood up and patted the water, urging the smallest mermaid closer to him. "Come on, let's get this on."

Red Hood nudged Robin over, saying something before pushing Nightwing aside, who shook himself before rushing away to a nearby rock and laying on it, curling up. But his wide blue eyes continued to stare at Wally almost as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Jericho watched for a second before leaning down and clasping the collar onto Robin's neck, but he didn't fail to notice the mermaid's trembling.

Wally stuck around for another hour. They talked, tossed fish into the water before his friend stood up, saying he had to go and pick up Bart form school. Jericho waved him off before looking back at the water. Robin was doing something. A bunch of fish were eye level with him, holding so still it was eerie.

Soft wailing made him look at Nightwing. Frowning, Jericho wondered what had upset him. Walking over, he tossed a favorite fish to the mermaid. He ignored it, still looking at where Wally had left. Sighing, Jericho looked back at the other two. Red Hood was in his skull, watching everything before turning to splash the people starting to fill the stands for the afternoon showing. Robin had gone to hide somewhere else, but the fish stayed perfectly still... unmoving.

Groaning, Jericho patted the water to gather his mermaids. "Why do I have a feeling this show is going to be a disaster?"


	8. Chapter 8

**A special thanks to L. VanDattaem for Betaing!**

* * *

The crowd gathered into the stadium for the afternoon showing for the mermaids.

A small boy around the age of ten, dressed in a red hoodie, faded jeans and a black cap, sat in the front row with the many people who had been trying to get tickets to see the sea creatures. Some of them laughed as one of the mermaids named Red Hood splashed at them. They thought that it was being playful, but in truth it was trying to make them angry.

The boy watched as one just laid out on a rock. A third one had been seen, but it had swum away, hiding in in the fake coral cave thing. It didn't like humans. That wasn't surprising. The boy watched the crowd as they crammed in with their tickets. Luckily the boy had stolen one from an unsuspecting person, thus the reason he was here in the first place.

A man in his mid twenties or so patted the water before standing up, wearing a microphone headset that must have been water proof. He waved to the crowd as they roared in cheers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, I welcome you today to Ocean Waters! I am Jericho Wilson. Today you are about to enter a new world of amazing creatures! I present to you... Nightwing and Red Hood!"

The crowd cheered as the two mermaids jumped out of the water. The mermaids popped out, looking at their trainer, Jericho, who praised them for the small trick before looking back at the crowd. "Let's say hello," Jericho said, and started to wave his hands.

"Say hello, Nightwing, Red Hood." They waved to the crowd, earning excited cheers. Jericho took out two beach balls, tossing them into the water, calling for the mermaids to catch. The mermaids started what looked like simple juggling with their tails before their trainer tossed in a third one.

Everyone was laughing happily and cheered once again as a fourth one was tossed in. Everything went well for the first half hour until it came to a trick that involved the two working together. Instead of flying through the air into a hoop at the same time, Nightwing had decided he was done. Instead, he swam past the hoop, watching as Red Hood preformed the trick alone.

The trainer blew the whistle to call Nightwing over. Instead, Nightwing swam close by before going to a rock near the crowd and laying down on it, closing his eyes. Jericho patted the water to no avail because the blue-tailed mermaid wouldn't come to him. A couple of times Nightwing sat up to look at him before going back to laying down. As Jericho tried to fix this problem he heard the crowd laughing and pointing.

Red Hood had come up onto the platform, his upper half hidden in the ice box that held the fish they were given for a reward. The little boy grinned as Jericho tried to shoo Red Hood off, who made off with a very tasty fish that was usually saved for the end of the show. The red-tailed one took it to the skull, where he started to eat it. The crowd realized that the mermaids weren't going to be doing a show for them, so they started to murmur amongst themselves.

Someone got the idea to start tossing some popcorn into the water. A few landed on the rock that Nigthwing was on. He opened his eyes, taking a couple of pieces to taste them. He liked it. Jericho tried talking to the crowd to stop tossing in popcorn when Nightwing sat up, opening his mouth for more, and it encouraged them to start tossing in the snack.

Someone tossed in a candy bar. Red Hood snatched it up, taking a bite. With the crowd laughing, shouting, cheering and tossing in more, the trainer started to worry.

"Attention. Attention, please do not throw in food! The mermaids could get sick form it! Nightwing, Red Hood, come here!"

They ignored him.

The boy watched as they swam around gathering the snacks they were given until a man stood up nearby him, laughing loudly before leaning down to pat the water. The boy saw how the trainer yelled at him not to try and touch the mermaids.

The man didn't listen and instead jumped down onto the rock. Instantly both the mermaids took notice. The man laughed as the two circled him. He leaned down to touch one of their tails when Red Hood came up behind him, grabbing the back of the man's shirt, pulling him down. The man screamed along with the crowd as Red Hood pulled him into the water before letting go. Nightwing pulled the man along towards the middle of the pool by his foot before letting go.

"Stop!" Jericho shouted, hitting the water. "Stop it!"

Red Hood grabbed the man by the other foot before both of them started to drag him down. Without waiting another second, Jericho dove into the water, swimming as fast as he could to them. When he got there, he heard a voice. It was soft, steady, beautiful, and above all, deadly. He saw the man, who was struggling, suddenly become very still, much like the group of fish. Ignoring the song, he rushed over, smacking the hands away. They darted off as he grabbed the man, swimming for the surface. When they broke through, the man was still in a trance.

"Sir, are you alright?!"Jericho shouted. "Come on, say something!"

The man started to come out of it when Red Hood came up, growling. Jericho blew the whistle at him, making the mermaid back away as he pulled the man to the platform where other workers had come running out to help. When they got the man on it, he started to snap out of the daze, but then Nightwing pulled Jericho away. Red Hood batted everyone away and suddenly Robin appeared out of the water.

Jericho watched in shock as the small mermaid quickly climbed onto the man, grabbing his face with his clawed hands before letting out a breath and pressing his mouth onto the other man's. Everyone froze, but Jericho knew the tails, knew what was happening, and it was proven when the man's black hair started to turn gray as the life started to drain out of him.

Jericho rushed back as fast as he could, grabbing Robin, pulling him off. The mermaid was purring! It was a meal to him. A rare meal of human life. Carrying the small, half-dazed mermaid to a separate tank, he tossed Robin in, who wailed, scratching at the glass.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry, but this show is over." Jericho turned off his mic, looking at the workers seriously. "Get them out of here. Tell father to get his lawyers ready, and whatever you do, don't look into the Robin's eyes, understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

Tim licked his lips.

He had been told that human life tasted delicious. Bruce had told him that he had a skill that they needed to get both Jason and Dick out, and it required human life. Just a few months of that life, nothing more, nothing less. Bruce had told him how to do it, how to be careful. When the show was going on, both his brothers had told him they would get him someone young so he could take that life for them to get out.

A man had gotten close.

Perfect.

Jason had gotten him, dragged the human down with Dick's help.

Truly, Tim had only meant to take a little, like he was told, but human life force tasted way better than he had imagined. When breathing in the life of the man, he had forgotten to stop, to let go before the human could age. His singing had kept the human still for the precious minute they needed, but after that Tim forgot himself. Instead of stopping he started to feed more off the life. He had heard both his brothers screaming at him to stop before he was suddenly pulled away.

In a haze of his own, the life overwhelming to him, Tim hadn't noticed he had been yanked out of the water until he was tossed into a small tank. Snapping out of it, he realized what he had done. Bruce had warned him, told him not to let it take off. Bruce had said it was difficult for young ones like himself to do such a thing, but it was necessary.

Clawing at the tank, he called to his brothers.

* * *

"How could you let this happen?!" Slade roared.

"They got thrown for a loop, pops!" Jericho shouted back. "You tossed in their brother and left! Robin's not even trained, and they were so happy to see him they couldn't focus!"

"You should have been in control over them!"

"I only had about two months to train them! I told you I needed more time!" Jericho shouted. "If you don't want this to happen again, then give me more time!"

Furious, Slade tossed the papers on his desk to the ground. "One month! That's all, or I separate them all!"

* * *

The night came, and Tim waited until the midnight hour was upon them before pulling on the life force he had taken and focusing it, gripping the sides of the tank he had been placed in for the night apart from his brothers. Using his strength, he toppled out, landing on the floor and hurting his side, before sitting up and shaking his head.

Both Dick and Jason stared at him from their tanks.

Shaking his head once more, Tim stared in awe at the legs he now possessed, wiggling the toes, his mouth hanging open.

"_Bruce was right... legs feel weird._"

* * *

**To owlcat92: Ys, Wally is there! I had to have something dramatic to happen lol**

**To Sairey13: Well, I can't confirm yes or no because it would be spoiling it, but ya never know. 8D **

**To REBD: No Disney movies were involved in the writing of this story.**

**To Noon: They need Daddy Bats feels lol XD**

**To L. VanDattae: Sounds like a very tiring day! Hope this day is better for you and thanks again for the review and the beta work! Hope to hear form you soon. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Beta version! **

**LET US ALL THANK L. VanDattae**

* * *

Jason and Dick both watched as Tim rubbed his legs.

Since taking the human that gave Tim the power to change his tail into legs, the youngest family member had been having trouble waking his legs up. It was his first time using his powers to change into the form of a land dweller, and Tim knew he would have to get used to the legs first. Rubbing them made it easier to get feeling into them, but honestly, he wanted to change back into his tail.

"_Timmy, you okay?_" Dick asked through the glass, looking concerned.

Coughing a bit, Tim's voice came out scratchy, since this was also his first time using the human way to talk. "I... I'm... f-f-finnnne..."

"_It speaks._" Jason snorted before going up to the top of his tank, poking his head out of the water to use his voice. "It's been forever since I talked Human."

Seconds later Dick shook his hair, leaning over the tank. "Me too. Sounds like you need to work on your voice, Timmy."

"I-ah- kn-knowww." Tim rubbed his neck as it ached.

"All right, Tim, get those legs working and change us too," Jason said, his face full of excitement. "I can't wait to walk on two legs again."

"Me too!" Dick cheered. "When we get out of here I'm going to run back to the ocean."

A raspy sound escaped Tim's throat before he moved a bit, using his hands to help him get his legs under him, then slowly and extremely wobbly, he stood up. The legs shook and wobbled as he tried to balance himself. With a yelp, Tim fell back onto the floor as one leg gave out on him. Flushing in embarrassment when both his brothers laughed, Tim pouted.

"Sorry, Timmy," Dick grinned. "But it was funny, and besides, Jason and I had trouble when we fist started to swim. Jason ran into a whale."

"Says the one who nearly got raped by one because he thought it was funny to make mating calls at it."

"I didn't know it would actually come after me!"

Ignoring their bickering and embarrassing stories, Tim tried to stand again. This time he used his tank to better balance himself. Wobbling along to the end of the tank, he saw a piece of red cloth that was used on the ring they made his brothers jump through. He grabbed the thin thing and wrapped it around himself. At least he could cover whatever dignity he had left.

Still listening to the two argue, Tim pushed himself slightly off his tank, arms out to his sides, trying to get centered. He looked down at his legs. They were starting to hurt. The only reason he could think of was because they were weak. Like a new born mer-baby– Er... human baby? Shaking his head, Tim took a few shaky steps forward before he collapsed again, and this time the pain that shot through his legs was unbearable, making him cry out from it.

"Tim?!"

"Timmy?!"

Tears forming, Tim bit his lip. "Hu- Hurts..."

"Come over here," Jason said, leaning out of the tank. "Change us and we'll get you outta here."

The sound of pebbles made them worry and Dick leaned over more. "Timmy, your tears!"

"They're turning into pearls?!" Jason gasped in shock.

Without warning Tim started to sob, curling into his side. The legs felt like millions of needles stabbing him. Something was wrong. He must have said the spell wrong, it shouldn't hurt like this. The tears continued to fall, and so did the pearls with each new drop that leaked form his pained eyes. Gasping, Tim tried to control it when they heard shouting and footsteps.

Panicked and full of fear, Tim grabbed the pearls, tossing them back into his tank, before forcing himself up, letting out more cries of pain, and then gripped the side of the tank. He couldn't get in! They were coming! Heart pounding, Tim looked around frantically as the world closed in on him. Without thinking, he started to wail for Bruce to come and get him before Jason yelled at him in their mermaid language to shut up.

The doors were being unlocked! Without another thought, Tim used some more of that human's life force to change back into his natural form and curled up against his tank, hyperventilating as the door banged open. Security and that trainer, Jericho, rushed in.

* * *

"He got out of his tank!" a man said.

Jericho stepped in front of them. "No shouting. Robin's been put into a fight-or-flight mode, in case none of you know about what happened earlier today. Even though the man didn't die, he was aged ten years. Now back away and I'll handle this."

Turning back to the small mermaid, he could hear Red Hood and Nightwing growling. Smiling at them, Jericho used his hands, patting the water gently to let them know there was nothing to get upset about. Slowly walking over to Robin, he leaned down to the mermaid, who cried out as he got close. Robin's body was trembling horribly. What upset Jericho was how the small mermaid looked at him as if he had come to kill it off or something. Leaning down, he rubbed his head.

"Shh, Robin, it's okay," he said in a gentle voice. "It's all right, Robin... Come on, let's get you back into the water, all right?"

"Nyyyyaaahhh!" Robin screamed when he tried to pick him up.

"Easy, easy," Jericho kept his voice calm and steady. "We're just going to get you into the tank, all right? Come on, buddy, easy does it..."

A small wet thud was heard and Jericho's jaw dropped.

Robin had fainted.

He'd fainted!

"Robin?!" Jericho turned the mermaid over carefully, noticing the two tear drops in his eyes. "Poor thing must be the baby of the family... he's really small. Nightwing."

Nightwing straightened up, looking concerned. "Cooo," he called out like a question.

"I'm not going to hurt him," Jericho assured, picking up Robin. "Just making sure you know that."

Two pearls fell onto the floor.

"What the?" Jericho looked down at the two perfect small pearls. "Where in the... Oh. Ohh..."

Red Hood and Nigthwing looked at each other before looking back at Jericho who took a closer look into Robin's tank, seeing the pearls lying at the bottom of it. Jericho let out a groan of frustration.

"Just great... Pops is going to flip for this." With that, Jericho gently put Robin back into his tank, letting him float to the bottom before looking at the men. "We'll need bigger tanks. They don't have enough room in these. Contact Wally West and get him on the task for new tanks now. You, go get my father. The rest of you get nets to put over the tanks. If they fall out and don't have water they might die."

"Yes, sir."

Turning back to the other mermaids, Jericho looked around. "Hmm."

Nightwing cooed at him again, almost asking a question.

"Strange... I could have sworn I heard someone say the name Bruce."

He didn't notice how both his mermaids tensed as he left the room.

* * *

"_Dear God, Tim, shut the hell up!_" Jason yelled, banging his hands on the glass.

"_Leave him alone, Jason!_" Dick hissed from his now netted tank. "_It's not his fault! You can't understand what Timmy's going through!_"

"_Going through?! All he's doing is crying for Bruce!_"

Wailing louder, Tim curled up more in the corner of his tank, pulling his tail around him. The fear and anxiety of being so far and so long away from his adoptive father was taking its toll already. Not only had he failed Bruce when taking the human life, but he'd failed at walking, at talking, at staying on his legs, and worst of all, Bruce was out there near this forsaken place waiting for them, and he'd failed!

Since he'd woken up, he had blocked out his brothers as he cried. It was the only thing Tim had left at the moment. He felt alone, colder than he should have been, was having trouble breathing in water or air right, and he couldn't stop calling for Bruce. He wanted his dad to come and get him.

"_TIM, SHUT UP!_"

"_Bruce!_"Tim wailed again, louder."_Bruce! Bruce, I want to go home, Bruce!_"

_Jason growled. _"_Shut up! This is all your fault!_"

"_Bruce!_"

"_You should have changed us so we could handle it!_"

"_Bruce!_"

"_You're nothing but weak!_"

"_Jason!_" Dick yelled in shock.

"_Bruce!_"

"_Look at you! All you do is cry for daddy to come get you! Bruce isn't your daddy, you idiot! The only reason he keeps you around is because he doesn't have a choice!_"

"_Bruce!_"

"_Jason, stop it!_"

"_Your dad didn't love you, Tim! Neither did your mother, and Bruce took you in because he thought you were still a baby!_"

"_BRUCE!_"

"_Jason, that's enough!_"

"_YOU'RE USELESS JUST AS MUCH AS YOU ARE WORTHLESS!_"

This time Tim didn't cry out for Bruce, but he swirled around, shock on his face, mouth open in disbelief.

The hated glare Jason wore vanished as he realized, horrified, what he had said. Dick was also staring at him in shock, and Jason looked between the two of them before looking back at Tim, who blanked before laying down all curled up, not making a sound. Dick looked at Jason with disappointment.

Tim's parents had told him all his life that he was useless, worthless, a waste of life to their kind. How they wished that they had never had such a useless child. He wasn't big or strong like his father. Wasn't a perfect siren like his mother. Both Jason and Dick had dealt with Tim's nightmares, and they'd often heard Bruce trying to confess to Tim about the nightmares he'd had.

One time someone had seen Tim attempt to call a fish over. When he couldn't, the merman had jokingly said that if Tim didn't get better he'd be useless during hunts. The words had hurt Tim more than anything. Words were triggers that made Tim depressed, and he would turn into a shell, not eating for days. Bruce had done everything to help his third son. But those words, "useless and worthless," hurt Tim more than anything, because all his life he had believed that it was true.

Before, with his family,Tim didn't know love or care. Not until he had Bruce. He was still dependent on Bruce for many reasons, but he'd improved dramatically since that time. Tim still needed Bruce, they all did, even if Jason wouldn't admit it, and there was one rule both spoken and unspoken, and that was to never, ever, call Tim either of those words. The last time they had seen Jack and he'd said those words, Bruce had dragged the man away, and when Jack came out, he'd swum up beaten black and blue and shaking.

Don't say the words.

Be kind to each other like brothers do, is what Bruce said.

A broken rule.

A broken heart.

"_Jason, why?_" Dick asked, his voice tight. "_Why did you say that?!_"

"_I... I was... I was mad!_" Jason yelled, hurt in the back of his voice. "_Tim, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!_"

Tim didn't move for the rest of the night, and when morning came, the bottom of the tank was full of pearls.

* * *

**To Elyograg: Yes, I did! I used that and I also saw the two documentaries of Mermaid the Body Found and Mermaid New Evidence and used them a references to make this story! **

**To L. VanDattae: Lol he didn't kill him he was jsut trying to get legs 8D. He is so cute, I love Tim out of everyone else, I just want to hug him to death. Legs! There will be more legs to come (As weird as that sounds...) And yes! I love how Tim is always all small! Its so cute! Oh the fish he throws in are alive. mermaids like to kill their food I think and don't worry that kid has a role to play. ;) **

**To princ3ssf33t: I'm going to say who it is in the next chapter, and it's going to be (Hopefully) WOW. Yes, Tim took took much but he didn't mean too. **

**To Biery5: Awesome thanks. **

**To REBD: I love that movie too but I admit I never been of the fall in love on sight. Just not my thing. **

**To Noon: Holy Moly, it did get real Ship! LOL **

**To owlcat92: I loved you review expressions! They made me smile! **


	10. Chapter 10

**Beta Version! **

**Let us thank L. VanDattae for her wonderful work! **

* * *

Jericho didn't like what he had to do to Robin the next morning.

His father had told/commanded him to sedate Robin so they could have him checked out by a mermaid doctor. Of course, Jericho knew the real reason why. Robin's tears had turned into pearls. It had been hundreds of years since a mermaid had been able to do that, an ability normally only held by mermaids gifted with the siren's voice. However, Jericho had never seen a male siren before. His father didn't seem to care, because when they had come in that morning, both of them had been stunned to see the tank's floor covered in multi-colored pearls.

Jericho got closer, talking softly to Robin. "Robin." He patted the water gently. "Robin, come on, boy, come here."

Slade snorted. "You act like they're more than beasts."

"They are, pops." Jericho frowned, looking at Robin. "Something's wrong here... he looks sad."

"Nonsense. The only thing to be sad about is that the other two mermaids don't cry tears either." Slade walked to Nightwing's tank and banged on it hard, making the mermaid cover his ears. "You little bastard. Cost me a whole month's show's worth of money."

"Pops, don't bang on the glass!"

"Like this?" Slade banged on it some more, smirking as Nightwing wailed, covering his ears. "Maybe it'll start crying and get us more pearls."

Leaning down, Jericho carefully pulled Robin's arm up, pressing a needle into his arm. Robin yelped, pulling away before holding his arms up over his face, trying to shield himself from anything that could possibly harm him. Within seconds Robin's eyes drooped a bit and he lazily sank down into the tank, sitting mostly up but unsteady in the water.

"Pops, leave Nightwing alone!" Jericho rushed over to push his father's hands away, and then opened the top of Nightwing's tank to pet the mermaid's head gently as a way of apologizing. "Sorry, Nightwing, you okay?"

Nightwing huffed, shaking his head before glaring at Slade. Then he stared up at Jericho, cooing and nodding his head towards Robin's tank. He was worried about his little brother, who hadn't spoken to them since last night, and now the youngest family member was in a haze from whatever Jericho had given him.

"Don't worry, Nightwing, Robin's okay. We just have to have him checked out and his tank cleaned."

"I want these pearls on sale as soon as possible." Slade grinned as he scooped out a bunch of the pearls with a net, chuckling deeply. "Jackpot."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Jericho walked over to Red Hood's tank, patting the water. "You know, you're going to be late meeting your lawyer."

"Have it done before I get back. "

"Sure." Jericho watched him leave before looking at Red Hood. "Hey, what's wrong with you?"

Red Hood looked at him, face unreadable, before swimming over to the glass piece of the tank that would let them swim in the arena. Jericho knew something had upset the red-tailed mermaid, because Red Hood swam like he felt guilty about something. Opening the tanks, he let both of the older two leave to play in the arena for a little while before training. Once the doors were closed, Jericho started to drain the water in Robin's tank. When it only had about a foot of water left, he leaned down to pick up the small mermaid and carried him to a round bathtub, laying him in it.

The poor thing was high at the moment and would look around in awe before his eyes would droop, his head titling from side to side. He whimpered and cooed a few times before his head lolled back against the tub of cool water, passing out. After that, Jericho gave Robin a check up before setting him in Red Hood's tank so he could rest.

A minute later Robin opened his eyes and slowly swam out of the tank, into the arena's pool.

Jericho let him go.

Besides, the medicine/drugs would keep him from taking another meal.

* * *

Tim had no idea what was wrong with him as he swam out. He felt like he was swimming through a dream. His mind was so confused and filled with things floating around that he tried for a good five minute to get up on the side of the rock. It hurt his feelings when he couldn't get onto the rock, sadly tugging at it, trying to pull himself up so he could soak up the sun.

Yet another side of him felt oddly happy. A funny kind of happy. Tim felt someone's shadow over him. Looking up, he saw Jason there, looking down at him with a half sorta scowl. He said something that Tim couldn't understand. Tim cooed at him sadly, trying to tug himself up on to the rock once again. This time Jason dove into the water and gripped Tim's hips, pushing the smaller one onto it. Cooing out a cheer of happiness, Tim snuggled onto the rock, a big smile on his face as he purred, tail swishing.

Jason pulled himself up as well, looking at Tim oddly. "_What the hell did they give you?_"

Cooing again, Tim wiggled around on his stomach, feeling so happy, like butterfish were floating around in his belly. No words would leave his mouth, but he cooed so happily that Dick swam over to join them on the rock, taking the spot on Tim's left side, giving him a funny look.

"_What's wrong with Timmy?_"

"_I have no freaking clue._" Jason propped his chin up on his hand. "_I saw him come out, and when I told him that I was sorry and didn't mean it, he started to laugh softly and couldn't get on the rock. I tossed him up here and now he has this stupid happy smile and won't stop laughing/cooing._"

"_Timmy, are you all right?_" Dick asked, getting closer to rub his brother's back. "_Timmy?_"

Instead of answering, Tim sighed happily, trying to snuggle the rock.

"_See?_" Jason snorted. "_They gave him something._"

"_Maybe it'll help him._" Dick petted Tim's hair with a smile. "_After all, Jericho's really nice to us, and I know he wouldn't do anything to hurt us._"

"_I guess you're right._" Jason nudged Tim. "_Hey, Baby Fish, I'm sorry, okay? I never meant what I said._"

Tim purred, nuzzling the side of his face against the warm rock.

"_Maybe you should wait until whatever that stuff is wears off._"

"_Ya think?!_" Jason went to smack Dick but he felt Tim draping himself onto his back, settling down and cooing happily. "_Hey! No free rides or naps on me-!_"

"_Bruce..._" Tim sighed, his voice full of happiness as he snuggled down on Jason's back, eyes closing.

Jason's mouth clamped shut before he settled down on the rock himself, careful not to let his brother fall off. "_Damn it._"

"_Aww, you're such a cute big brother~!_" Dick teased, grinning widely, poking the other's cheek. "_I am so going to tell Bruce about it too!_"

Smack!

Splash!

Jason snickered before laying back down. Of course, this was a one-time thing, being nice to Tim like this, because there was no way in hell he would ever let the little brat sleep on his back again. That was what Bruce was for. Bruce was a big old Daddy Bats softy. He would coddle all of them, and Jason Todd Wayne didn't need to be coddled! He was Jason Todd Wayne, bad ass of the sea! He looked like a demon of the deep when he was fighting off anyone who dared come near their family! He was a proud fighter that could stand on his own! He didn't need to be coddled, hugged, or kissed on the forehead, and neither did he, Jason Todd Wayne, need to sit or ride on Bruce's back!

No!

He was Jason Mother Freaking Todd Wayne!

And when he returned to the ocean where he belonged, he would keep the name Red Hood to strike fear in others. Yeah! Red Hood would rule the sea with an iron first! Once home, he would prove to the other young merman that he was going to take over territory and make it his! Jason Todd Wayne, the fearsome Red Hood!

Jason Todd Wayne was the freaking Mother Red Hood-!

"Red Hood," Jericho grinned happily. "How sweet, kind and loving of you to take care of your brothers!"

Stunned, Jason realized while he'd been self praising and self proclaiming that Dick had gotten back up on the rock and had made himself comfortable next to Tim on top of Jason, both sound asleep.

Jericho nearly died laughing at the look of utter horror and disbelief that Red Hood had on his face, his mouth wide open and one eye twitching.

* * *

Going over the new plans for the tanks—the large glass fences to keep people out of the water and the additional things in the gigantic pool—Wally sighed, sitting down on the bench. His friend Jericho had left after going onto the rock that all the mermaids had been on. Two were asleep and the third one with the red tail had looked like he was in a bad mood. Wally didn't doubt it, because Red Hood had his arms crossed and his eyebrows knitted together like he wanted to cut someone.

When Jericho had picked up Robin, carefully carrying him away to get him checked out and some other stuff—Wally didn't catch it all—Red Hood had tossed off Nightwing before swimming to his skull, where he chose to eat a fish... violently. Seriously, that mermaid had issues because it didn't even kill the fish, just started to eat it as it died a slow death.

Going over another idea, Wally looked up when water splashed at his feet. Nightwing was on the water platform, looking at him with an expression that he could only guess was happiness and sadness and maybe hope. Grinning, Wally stood up.

"I know what your thinking..." Wally said to the mermaid, who gasped, sitting up, eyes wide with hope. "And I know what you want to tell me."

Nightwing cried out happily, his tail swishing so fast it almost made him lose his balance as he swam a little closer to Wally. Then a fish was tossed next to him.

"There ya go!" Wally grinned. "Heard it was your favorite fish!"

Nightwing stayed frozen in place, that happy wide-open smile stuck there too.

"What?" Wally raised an eyebrow. "Not your favorite?"

Snorting, Nightwing rolled around, almost chasing his own tail, before he sat down, striking a dramatic pose. Almost like one did in a circus. Surely this would have gotten some attention.

"Ohh, you want bread, right?" Wally grabbed a big piece of bread, tossing it in. "There."

Nightwing huffed through his nose, frowning.

Red Hood swam by, taking both the fish and bread.

"Wow," Wally laughed, watching. "All right, Wing, it's fun to watch you, but if you're not hungry I got work to do, or Mr. Wilson will have me jumping through hoops."

Hoops!

Nightwing cooed happily, diving into the water and heading towards the side of the pool where they had the equipment out for training. Grabbing a hoop, he swam back to Wally, tossing it at him. It hit the redhead, making him yell, "Hey!" Cooing, Nightwing bobbed in the water, waving and pointing his hands to the hoop. Wally scoffed, shaking his head.

"Sorry, dude, I ain't your trainer."

Nightwing wailed loudly, making Wally cover his eyes.

"All right! All right, one time!"

Happy about that, Nightwing got ready as Wally held out the ring. First he posed a bit, trying to jog the other's memory about who he really was. Talking to humans was forbidden, so he had to find a way to bend the rule a bit. Nothing said they couldn't get a little help from certain merfolk. Once he was done, Nightwing leaped into the hoop, but it wasn't a normal jump. This one had flips and much smoother flying skills.

"Oh my god!" Wally screamed in shock.

Nightwing popped out of the water and back onto the platform, full of excitement for Wally remembering who he was!

"Oh... my god..." Wally dropped to his knees on the platform. "I c-can't believe this..."

Dick threw his arms up in victory, ready to hug his best friend from years ago.

"My new phone fell into the water!"

.

.

.

When Jericho came back out a couple of minutes later, he frowned at Wally and nodded his head to one of his mermaids. "Why is Nightwing thudding his head against the ice box?"

Wally looked up from where he was trying to dry his phone. "I have no idea, dude, your mermaid is weird."

* * *

The little boy in the red hoodie was happily humming to himself as he jumped from rock to rock near the ocean when he caught sight of something sitting on the rock. It was a sea shell. When he leaned down to pick it up, he saw five people lying in a row, looking dead. Gulping, the boy got down to see what was going on. Three men and two women lay there. Their faces looked so young but their hair had turned gray, white, or salt and peppered.

Gasping, the boy looked up in time to see that large merman nicknamed The Bat with a woman in his arms. His mouth was over hers, and he was breathing in her life force until her blond hair turned white. Then he let her go, laying her on the sand beach between the many rocks. So, none of the people were dead, but they sure looked old now.

The Bat looked at him for a second, making the boy plop down in hopes of not being the next target, and watched as the merman changed... into a... man! A human man! The man stretched his legs out, testing them before stripping down one of the men he had taken the life force from and dressing in the man's rather classy clothes. Like one of those fancy people on tv.

What were they called?

Oh yeah, a suit!

The little boy closed his eyes as the man brushed off the sand before walking over to him. "It's not polite to stare."

"You can talk!"

Chuckling, the now-human nodded. "Yes, I can. Now then." He held out his hand to the boy. "How about you come with me and show me how to get into Ocean Waters?"

The boy shook his head. "I don't go with strangers."

"I saved your life, remember? Now, all I ask is that you help me find my sons and I will reward you with anything you want."

The boy looked the man up and down closely before rubbing his stomach. "I'll get you in if you buy me lunch."

"Of course," the mer-human said with a charming smile. "First, let's get out of here and to a hotel before anyone sees us."

"How do you know what a hotel is?!" the boy asked, following as the man lead the way. "I thought you were in the sea all this time and never EVER set foot on land."

"I have been on land many times," the other admitted, but his voice sounded bitter, almost cold.

"Cool!" the boy said, struggling to keep up with his partner's long strides. This guy was an expert on his new legs! "What's your name? Where do you live when you're not here? Can you see in the dark underwater? Do you like sushi? How old are you? Are those your sons in Ocean Waters? What are their names? Can I meet them? Where do you sleep at night in the sea? Where–"

"All right, one at a time," the man said, turning around and kneeling down on one knee. Even though he did, the small boy still had to look up at him, since he was so huge and tall. "My name is Bruce. Bruce Wayne." He put his large hand on the boy's bony shoulder. "And what's your name?"

With a huge grin, the boy with black hair and blue eyes answered. "My name's Billy Batson!"

* * *

**To icyquest4: Here some more I'm glad you liked the end lol**

**To owlcat92: Omg I started to think about that too right after I read about the Joker fish you mentioned and I was all 'THE HORROR.' and then I laughed for a bit.**

**To princ3ssf33t: I heard that (And when I mean heard I mean someone told me sorties) that when Mermaids get legs that when the changing or spell is wrong then they fill pain in their legs and the tears turn into pearls from it. I thought I add it in there and see what Slade did with it.**

**To Noon: Timmy! So... cute... yet... deadly... Deadly cute!**

**To Biery5: Thank you**

**To L. VanDattae: Snacking on human life, is like snacking on candy you just can't just eat one without wanting more. You know I didn't think about the cloth around his waist but I'm going to have more about that soon and Jericho having suppositions. Yes, Slade loved it! He has more money now and he's getting greedy. Tsk, Tsk, Slade. Yes, Jason going to have to make up for it but it might have to wait until Tim's drugs wear off. Thank you for betaing! Sorry it takes the night but I work better in the night. lol Night Owl. (NO WAIT! Night... Bat. XD) ALSO: You were right about Billy XD Great Job!**

**To Free as the Birds: When I'm excited about writing I just can't stop! It's crazy! Thank u for the loves!**

**To REBD: Jason just Jason lol he's a good guy really.**


	11. Chapter 11

Billy followed the human Merman around as the man calmly went about. He had gone the opposite way of Ocean Waters. Instead he walked up to a Pawn shop going inside before waiting inline. Billy wandered close by before taking a couple of free cookies they had out and stuffing about ten more into his pockets.

After a few minutes the man, Bruce, walked up to the counter placing a couple of certain coins in front of the man who's eyes widened comical and his mouth fell opened. A charming smile was on Bruce's face as he made a deal with the man and walking out with almost a million dollars in a suit case he had to buy. Billy's own eyes widened and his fingers twitched in want.

"Come along now, Billy, we need to make it to the Hotel, than you and I we'll get things ready."

"Get things ready?" Billy asked following the man.

"I'll explain in a moment." Bruce said waving for a taxi. "Now than, since you're an orphan I don't need to worry about you're parents."

"How do you know that? My parents could be looking for me right now."

As the taxi pulled up Bruce opened the door. "If that was true you wouldn't have been a stowaway on a ship nor would you be roaming the beach and agreeing to something for a meal."

Huffing Billy climbed into the Taxi. "Just so you know I can defend myself."

"Of course." Bruce said before giving the driver directions as they drove off.

* * *

When Tim woke up he was laying in the skull that Jason liked so much. Blinking he peeked out of the left eyes as he head someone talking loudly followed by splashing. Tim could see the human named Jericho telling his brothers what to do. Both Dick and Jason pretended not to understand most of what he said before preforming the tricks.

Shuffling back into the skull Tim held his stomach. He felt sick. Like his stomach was jumping all over the place. Looking around Tim sighed. He knew he had failed his family. For a few minutes he laid there depressed before sitting up a bit looking at his tail .

_'I have to make it up to them.'_ Tim said to himself.

Using the life he still had stashed away he let his tail transformed into legs. Staying still Tim stared at them feeling his heart rate sped up but he got it under control. Slowly he moved them. testing them out slowly this time rather than jumping up.

That must have been where he made his mistake. He had tried to run before learning how to stand. Now Tim moved his feet slowly in different tests. A few times he moved them as if walking like he had seen the humans do until they ached.

Once that happened he changed back into his tail.

It took him three hours to get used to the different movements but he had to work with the legs for less than five minutes and than rest for half hour. After than Tim let out a deep sigh exhausted. Slumping against the eye socket Tim moaned in pain as his tail ached.

It would take him awhile to get used to the legs.

However it did explain why Bruce told him to take his time. He must have known so maybe... Maybe he hadn't failed his Dad after all. Smiling a bit Tim let himself fall out of the skull into the cold water below before swimming the fake coral so he could rest.

Singing a bit so his fish would come to him Tim smiled a bit when one of his favorite fish came right up to him. Reaching for it he though of how good it would taste when suddenly something pricked him. Before he could scream for help the world dimmed the last thing Tim saw was a net.

* * *

"Alright, Red Hood, Nightwing, good job!" Jericho praised. "Perfect show!"

Both the mermaids sat on the water platform both a bit tired. They had started to train since that morning and now the sun was setting. It was strange for Jericho to put them through a long training session but they figured his Father must have been behind it.

"Hey, Jericho!"

The three of them turned to where a couple of spotters came over. One of them had a nice size water turtle. Jericho waved at them. Nightwing cooed happily swimming closer and following the one that had the turtle. Red Hood also seemed interested in it.

"Hey, guys," Jericho grinned. "What's up? And who's your little friend?"

"This is Speedy." One of them said. "She was chosen to be in the tank with the mermaids."

"I see." Jericho petted the turtle who was moving his legs trying to swim. "Aww, I bet she'll be happy in the tank."

Cooing made them turn to Nightwing who was trying to bat at the turtle his face full of excitement. The group laughed at the Mermaid's reaction. They walked onto the platform watching as both the sea creatures got off to bob in the pool waiting.

"Look how happy they are." The woman said setting the turtle down. "Go say hi Speedy!"

The turtle turned away from the mermaids trying to get out of the pool. Nightiwng swam up to it patting it on the shell purring loudly. Red Hood came up to the turtle too sniffing it before cooing at Nightwing who replied something back.

Jericho watched before frowning. "Oh shit..."

Before the others could ask what had made Jericho say that the woman screamed as Red Hood clamped down on the turtle's neck snapping it. Both of them grabbed at the shell tearing it off the dead turtle as they started to eat it.

In shock they all stood there watching at the mermaids ate the turtle. They all backed away as Nigthwing swam over to Jericho who had taken a side on the side of the pool at the end of the platform. The mermaid rested his chin Jericho's knee as he chews on the leg.

No one could miss the purring from both of the creatures.

Jericho could have kicked himself.

Of course Mermaids would eat more than just fish.

"Their monsters!" The woman screamed.

Sighing Jericho shook his head. "No their not. They trained really hard today and though that you were bring them a turtle as a great reward."

"Why didn't you tell us?!"

"I just realized it!" Jericho glared at them.

"You need to train them not to eat the turtles!"

"Ha!" Jericho glared at them as he petted Nightwing head as the blue tail continued to eat. "That's like asking some to stop drinking water or eating! It's what they ate in the sea and you can't Unitarian them not to eat."

Before anything else Wally West came running out. "Jericho, quick, you need to go to the medical room!"

"For what?" Jericho stood up before freezing looking at the skull where one of his mermaids should have been only to see it was empty. "Damn it!"

* * *

Bruce fixed his tie as he stood in front of the mirror.

As he did so he could see the small boy asleep on one of the beds in the fancy hotel room fast a sleep. After having the boy cleaned up, fed and some new clothes and burning the old ones in the fire place Bruce had made sure the kid was asleep before getting ready.

Something was wrong.

Tim should have met him five days ago near the water gate. At best it should have only taken Tim two days to get used to the legs. Something happened. So Bruce had lured people to the beach to take their life force. Left them alive of course.

What he wasn't expecting was that boy to be there. The one he had saved form the boats. However that was good since he needed someone to be with him and not having anyone recognizing him. Billy would be helpful and when he found his sons he would find somewhere safe for Billy to live before taking his family back to the sea.

Yet there was something he had to do first. Walking over to the bed he muttered a spell that would keep the boy asleep before leaving. He took a taxi down a long road that lead up a large hill. There he got out walking up to the door with a scowl on his face. Lifting up his first he knocked on the door of the Manor.

The door opened to show a man that was only a few years older than Bruce and the man eyes widened before borrowing.

"Bruce."

Bruce frowned as well. "Thomas Jr."

* * *

Tim woke up with a scream.

Gasping and panting he looked around desperately when he saw that man, the one with white hair, a beard and eye patch. He had a grin plastered on his face before he held out his hand over Tim's face. Tim flinched closing his eyes when he realized the someone else was in the room. Peeking his eyes open he saw another man there.

"I assure you that this Mermaid will be put to good use."

Tim wanted to cry out in horror as he stared up at the man who had bought him. Bruce had warned them about this man in great detail. The man Slade left the room chuckling at the money he had made off the small mermaid.

"I am sure that your Father told you about me, hasn't he... Timothy."

_"Ra's Al Gual..." _

* * *

**... **


	12. Chapter 12

Ra's chuckled darkly. "I had wondered what had caused my lost heir to flee from my kingdom... and now... I know."

Tim struggled on the table he was on. Straps kept him from moving. His arms had been strapped down so he couldn't move; his tail was flinging around, but no one had bothered to tie it down. Ra's walked around the medical table, smirking down at him. Something in his eyes made Tim worried, a foreboding feeling telling him to bolt even though he couldn't move.

The door opened, allowing in men dressed all in black. They came to hold his tail down. Tim screeched as they brought out more straps. One of them had a black cloth that he handed to Ra's, who looked it over, admiring the color of it before his hands pulled Tim's waist up up so he could slip it under him and move it until it was tied around his waist.

"There," Ra's said, before placing his hand on Tim's lower stomach, spreading his fingers. "We cannot have you indecent once this is done, can we?"

Frowning, Tim looked at him, confused, when suddenly the hand on him erupted into fire. Throwing back his head, Tim screamed as white fire spread all over his body from where the man's hand was to the tip of his fingers and the tip of his tail.

White pain filled his vision as he thrashed about. Tim could hear himself screaming, yet it sounded far off, like it was someone else. Just when Tim though he could take no more and that the pain was about to kill him, it faded until he was only shaking from the aftershocks.

Panting. Tim blinked away the tears that had flowed down face. His throat was dry, itching, and felt like he had swallowed the dry sand that was on the island where his family rested.

Ra's came into view, making Tim jerk away, but the man's hand gripped his chin tightly before pressing a cup of water to his lips. Tim gulped it down hoping for it to sooth his aching throat. When it was pulled away, Tim continued to take in shuddering breaths.

"Now then," Ra's said, as he walked around the foot of the bed. "What do you think of my little gift?"

Tim gasped as he looked down to see his legs instead of his tail. Eyes wide, Tim looked up at the man, eyes full of terror. It couldn't be. No, no, no, not this! This wasn't how mermaids got their legs, this was dark magic!

A dark chuckle from Ra's made him shiver as the man stepped closer. "Do you not like them?"

Not saying anything, Tim let his head fall back to the table. Maybe he could fool the man. If he tried, maybe the man would think he'd made the mistake of getting the wrong one. Wiggling the legs, Tim screeched out.

"Uncomfortable?" Ra's chuckled again, circling him. "Yes, I suppose that legs would be uncomfortable, since you never had any before."

He didn't know!

Good.

Tim cried out again.

"Oh I cannot wait until your father comes back looking for you," the demon said. "I have waited years, spent so much time, effort, money into tracking him down, and what do I find? His little offspring parading around as some seaside joke. I heard your brothers came first, but you... oh, you were found on a rock. How suiting, since your father cannot come close to this Ocean Waters."

Tim stilled when Ra's was suddenly in his face.

"He picked you for something," Ra's said bitterly. "He marked you differently than the other two... he thinks you're special. He's saving you for something. I can tell by the spell that he set on you."

That confused Tim.

Bruce hadn't put a spell on him.

"What it is, I will find out." Ra's moved back, placing his hand over the boy's stomach again. "For now, I'll let you roam here until I have what I want." Ra's laughed darkly once again, before looking at Tim's face. "Now, I believe Mr. Wilson wants some pearls."

Tim's eyes widened when five men stepped forward.

"Sir?" one asked.

Ra's stood back to watch. "Don't worry about breaking the leg bones. The tail will be replaced after we have the pearls."

* * *

Both Dick and Jason listened as Jericho praised them for their work.

It had been a long day. As they listened to Jericho talk, a group of humans came over to talk to Jericho. They had a sea turtle with them.

"_Jason, look!_" Dick cooed, swimming over to the side of the pool to follow them. "_It's a turtle! It's a turtle! We haven't had one in forever!_"

"_Hello, dinner!_" Jason agreed.

"_Why are they talking?!_" Dick huffed, before getting close to bat at the turtle. "_Come on, give it to us, give it to us!_"

Once the humans set it down, Dick swam up to it, patting the shell. It was a pretty healthy turtle and there was no echoing sound in the shell, which meant a lot of it was meat! Dick's mouth watered as he purred loudly.

Jason came up to him. "_Okay, what do you want?_"

"_The legs!_"

"_Right_." Jason snapped the neck and the two of them worked together to pull it apart. "_Yum_."

Dick took a leg that had a shoulder attached to it before resting his chin on Jericho, chewing it as he purred. Turtles were so good! It had been months since he'd had one. Normally Bruce and Jason would hunt down the large sea turtles and they would eat it for a day or two.

As he continued to eat, he listened to the fight between Jericho and his friends before Wally came out, yelling something.

Jericho vanished with the group of friends.

Dick licked his lips and teeth, watching as Wally paced around. Swimming up to him, Dick cooed loudly, getting his attention.

"Hey, Wing," Wally said, before plopping down. "Aw, man, what am I gonna do?"

Dick got closer, trying to gain attention by posing or mimicking things that the two of them used to do together with no success. Instead, Wally seemed to be deep in thought. Snorting, Dick splashed him with his tail in anger.

"Hey!"

Without waiting anymore, Dick jumped out of the water, pinning Wally down and glaring at him.

"What the hell!"

"Wally!"

Everything froze.

Wally stared in shock. "... Dick...?"

Dick cooed loudly.

Wally fainted.

"_Nice going, Dick, you killed him_." Jason sighed.

* * *

**SO... TIRED... MUST SLEEP...**


	13. Chapter 13

Jericho ran into the area where they kept the tanks for the mermaids.

Robin was... fine?

In the third tank, Robin slept, curled up in a corner. Looking around in confusion, Jericho grabbed the bars that they had placed on the tanks to keep the mermaids from jumping out. Reaching in, he patted the water.

Robin opened his eyes drowsily. Had the drugs not worn off? They should have by now. It wasn't like Jericho had used a lot. He had used a rather small dose. Reaching into the tank, he brought the small mermaid up, taking notice of the scales that had run up his lower back to his mid back, but now reached to his shoulder blades.

Jericho paused when he heard growling. Looking down, he saw that yes, the mermaid that had looked terrified only a couple of days ago was now glaring at him. Without warning a clawed hand swiped at him. Letting go, Jericho stared at Robin, who circled the tank before settling on staring at him emotionlessly.

"Okay." Jericho paused before reaching to the side and pushing a button. "Why don't you go see your brothers?"

The side door slid open and Robin swam out quickly. After closing the panel, Jericho ran out to the pool after sending the others away.

Once there, he was surprised to find Wally passed out on the floor with Nightwing laying out next to him, frowning, resting his chin on his hands and pouting. Running over, Jericho saw that Wally was breathing. Thank God.

Nightwing cooed something out that sounded like he was annoyed.

Sighing, Jericho crossed his arms, looking at the mermaid. "What did you do?"

Huffing, Nightiwng shook his head and pointed at Wally as if to say, "It's his fault."

"Uh-huh." Jericho frowned at him before pointing to the water. "Nightwing, splash."

Going into the water, Nightiwng whipped his tale up to splash Wally, who jolted up, sputtering and rubbing the water out of his face.

"What the hell?!"

"Wally, are you okay?"

Jumping, Wally looked at Jericho. "Dick!"

"Well, excuse me for helping you, asshole." Jericho glared.

"No, it's-"

Nightwing started to splash Wally repeatedly, Red Hood helping as they cooed angrily. Jericho blew the whistle and slapped the water to get them to back off. A few seconds later they returned when Wally tried to speak again.

"What did you do to them?!"

"Nothing, I swear!" Wally yelled, running away from the water.

"You had to have done something!" Jericho himself was grateful of the wet suit he wore before he blew the whistle again. "Enough! Go see Robin! Go!"

They splashed once more before Red Hood took off. Nightwing stayed to stare long and hard at Wally and something seemed to get through, because Wally nodded and sat down, going into deep thought as the blue-tailed mermaid took off.

Jericho sighed deeply. "I need to get them under control or I'm going to lose them."

Blinking, Wally walked up to him. "Lose them? What?"

"Come on, let's grab something from the vending machine and I'll tell you what happened. By the way, are you sure you didn't do anything or did you just pass out because of your high metabolism?"

"Shut up!"

* * *

The two faced each other form either side of the table they sat at.

"I haven't seen you in a few years, Bruce," Thomas said, before taking a drink of his brandy. "What brings you here?"

"I have a feeling you have a hand in the continued captivity of my children," Bruce said, frowning at him. "I know you have connections to places that capture merfolk, and yet you have yet to intervene at Ocean Waters."

"Ah, yes," Thomas said, swirling his drink. "I saw them on the news a couple of months ago. I figured that maybe if I let them be, you would show up."

Glaring and gritting his teeth, Bruce growled. "You know why I can't come back onto the land."

"Perhaps," Thomas said. "They have two of your little brats, do they not?"

"Three."

"You took on another?" Thomas asked in disbelief. "I figured you would have stopped at one since you only took him on because you happened upon him when fleeing the land, as you people put it."

"You forget that you are also of the merfolk, Thomas," Bruce said. "The only difference is that you left it to become human after they died."

"Hmm." Thomas poured more brandy into his glass. "And you choose to stay."

"Yes." Bruce crossed his arms. "Unlike you, who left all that he was behind and came here with treasures to build a human empire and help stop the hunts, and yet you let them capture my children."

"Those things are not your children. They don't share your blood."

"I marked them as mine! They are mine!" Bruce shouted, jumping up. "And when I tried to enter Ocean Waters, a magic field kept me from entering! I sent my youngest in to stop it and he has yet to complete it! My children are not fools, and my youngest has powers that are equal to mine, so he should have been able to handle it!" Bruce slammed his fist down. "The magic field has your energy around it to keep me out and to kept them in!"

Thomas only stared at him.

"Why?!"

Standing up, Thomas looked out the window. "Do you remember what happened thirteen years ago? What caused you to stop visiting the land and keep to the ocean?"

Bruce's eyes widened a bit before narrowing. "Ra's Al Ghul."

"Correct."

"What did you do?!"

"Simply got rid of your distractions."

"My children are not a distraction!"

"Of course they are." Thomas stared at him with a hard stare. "You were supposed to take over an empire."

"One I was tricked into."

"You were going to become heir to a strong kingdom!"

"I am not heir to that demon!" Bruce shouted. "Just like I am not a land dweller like you!"

"Then why are you here?!" Thomas yelled back. "You can't save them, Bruce! You know that my magic can keep you out for years!"

"Of course I know that! It's what kept me in with Ra's' so-called empire! Just remember I escaped the plan you had for me and I will get back what belongs to me."

"You should just forget them."

Turning away, Bruce headed to the door. "I would never forget my children."

Thomas took a drink before whispering, "We'll see about that."

* * *

"_Tim?_" Jason asked, as he paused, seeing his brother glaring at him. "_What's up with you?_"

Without warning, Tim lunged at Jason, his eyes glowing in anger.


	14. Chapter 14

Jericho was talking to Wally when he heard screeching.

Loud, painful screeching that he had heard only once before when he first started to train his mermaids. Both of them whipped around to see blood forming in the pool before Robin darted away from it, swimming fast, Red Hood following only a few seconds behind him. Nightwing noticed and was circling around to cut Robin off, only to be swiped at repeatedly.

"What the hell?!" Jericho yelled, before running toward that side of the pool. "Hey!"

The whistle blew loudly, but Robin continued to swipe at Nightwing and Red Hood. Both of the older ones were trying to contain the younger one and a trail of blood was leading around them, but Jericho couldn't pinpoint who it was coming from.

Slapping the water, Jericho tried calling to them. "Nightwing! Red Hood! Enough! ENOUGH!"

Robing surfaced, hissing loudly. When Nightwing came up, Robin swung, landing a hit across the other's face, making three bleeding scratches. Red Hood came up, yanking Robin back down into the water, and from that angle Jericho could see that it was Red Hood's blood spilling into the pool from his side.

"I said enough!" Jericho yelled.

Wally finally caught up after falling on the wet cement a few times, and he grabbed onto Jericho's shoulder just in time to see his old friend's bloody cheek.

"Dick!"

Jericho shoved him away, causing him to fall. "Ass!"

"Not you!"

"Wally, shut up! I have to stop this!"

"No, that's not what I-"

A screech made them look up at the water platform, where the three had ended up. Robin had his teeth sunk into Nightwing's side. Robin growled angrily, refusing to let go, and used his hands along with the fact that he was half on top of his brother to his advantage to hold the older one down, so no matter how hard the blue-tailed mermaid tried he couldn't get the younger one off.

Red Hood shot up, joining in as Nightwing managed to pull Robin off. Only to have Robin sink his teeth into Red Hood's arm. Nightwing rolled over, wincing, before trying to pull Robin off. Together the two of them held Robin down for a few minutes until the younger one stopped thrashing.

Red Hood was cooing angrily, Nightwing's noises were calming, as if asking what was going on. Robin went still, but they could all hear the soft growling. Red Hood cooed angrily again, shaking the smaller mermaid. Nightwing hissed at him.

Jericho reached into his pocket, recently added to his suit, and pulled out a small, waterproof gun. He aimed and fired. Robin didn't even seem to notice, but his brothers sure as hell did. They both hissed at him.

Shaking his head, Jericho raised and fired two more times. "Sorry, guys, this training session is over."

A minute later he had three mermaids knocked out cold. Sighing, Jericho walked into the pool to pull along the side net to keep them from floating away. After that, he called for the medical team and asked Wally to start new plans for the mermaid's arena.

* * *

"Gaaahh…" Billy groaned, complaining loudly. "I don't wanna…!"

"You're filthy," Bruce said, scrubbing the land dweller child. "I already changed the water twice and it's still turning to muck."

"Gaahhhh," Billy groaned again, letting himself slump into the tub only to be pulled up again. "No, let me drown so I won't die of embarrassment."

"You'll most likely die due to all the… dirt you've collected on yourself…" Bruce pulled him back up before turning on the shower. "I've never seen any child, human or mer, this dirty before."

Billy huffed and shook his head at all the foam as Bruce started scrubbing once again. This time it came out soapy white instead of light brown, showing that, yes, the child was finally getting clean. Next, conditioner was added before Bruce stepped back to grab a towel, handing it to Billy before leaving the bathroom.

As Billy dried off, Bruce walked into the hotel's living room and grabbed an envelope that held three days' worth of tickets to Ocean Waters. It should be enough for Billy to scope the place out. He hadn't wanted to use the boy and had intentions of erasing the boy's memory of him, however, now that he knew for sure that Thomas was involved, he needed help.

Billy had quickly and excitedly agreed to help Bruce out before he could even explain what he wanted Billy to do. After he'd agreed, Bruce asked him where his parents were and found out the boy had been living on the streets for nearly three years, fending for himself.

"Hey, Mister?" Billy asked, coming out. "When I go into Ocean Waters, can I have food money?"

"Of course."

"Can we have food now?"

"Yes. Why don't you order something and I'll look over these plans."

Not missing an opportunity, Billy picked up the phone to order room service. After ordering way more than he could eat, Billy went around the room slipping things into his pockets. He already had a nice little collection hiding behind the bed. Yet, he had a feeling that Bruce knew about it and had said nothing.

"Billy, come here for a second."

Billy walked over to the table where Bruce was sitting. He was holding something. It was a small pouch with pearls in it. Bruce laid them out on the table and separated them according to color. They ranged from normal white all the way to black. In all, thirteen.

"Are you selling them?" Billy asked, picking up a deep red one. "It looks like blood."

"Yes, well, breaking it will set you on liquid fire," Bruce said, taking it away from him. "Each pearl has a special power. However, it is only as strong as the one who forms them."

"So, if you're all muscle-ly you can make them powerful?"

"It's not all about physical strength, and what's more, only a rare few can cry pearls."

"Did you cry, Mister?"

"No," Bruce picked up a white pearl. "My third son did the day he came to live with me. I know he didn't realize that the pearls came from him and now I fear that the land dwellers will discover it. If they do… if they know what the pearls can do, then they'll never let them go."

Billy frowned, looking at the small pearls. The little things didn't look like they could do much, and yet he knew better than to try and take one… Okay, maybe when Bruce wasn't looking he would see what one of them did.

"Well, you can start thirteen fires."

"Each color represents a different power."

"Oh."

"Let's just hope that all the pearls that appear are either white or off-white." Bruce frowned at them before scooping them back into the pouch.

"And if they're not?" Billy asked, looking up, only to have the pouch of pearls settled around his neck.

"If not, then… well, we'll have to see how much longer my youngest will be able to stay alive."

"Alive?"

"Pearls take life. White or off-white ones are less than a second of life. Maybe fifteen pearls a second or more… however… the darker the color, the more the life it takes from the soul until the life span is at its end."

Billy stared at him for a long moment, noting Bruce's serious face before he looked at the pearls that hung on his chest. "So… this was once someone's life?"

"Yes." A hand fell on his shoulder, making the boy look up. "Now Billy, are you ready?"

For a moment, nothing, then, "Ready!"

Bruce smirked a bit before standing up. "Then let's go."

* * *

**To Noon: Thank you 8D**

**To Biery5: Here an update for ya! 8D**

**To L. VanDattae: You have no idea how much I wanna tell about what's going to happen but I can't! However yes, Tim isn't himself at the moment o_o**


	15. Chapter 15

**A special thank you to L. VanDattae for betaing! **

* * *

Dick woke up feeling groggy.

Shaking his head, Dick noticed that he had been placed back into his tank. Looking at his side, which stung, he saw that they had stitched up the puncture holes from Tim's teeth along with the scratches on his face.

He sat up, and even surrounded by water, he felt like he was going to fall, before he looked up. He could see Jason in his tank, still out. His side was also stitched up, as was his arm. Dick called to him to see if maybe his brother would wake up.

When he didn't, Dick shook his head, settling down and trying to clear the foggy feeling before sitting up again to look over at Tim's tank.

Tim was gone.

* * *

Billy hopped up to the large security guard, holding up a ticket. The guard grunted but took the ticket, having been the one who chased Billy out before. After it was scanned, Billy walked into Ocean Waters, looking around this time, not in any danger of getting in trouble.

Well, maybe a little.

Walking up to where they sold food, he got a drink and a couple of snacks. The Mermaid Arena was currently closed, but the rides and attractions were open and people wanted to see the clips, play the games, along with all the rest that came with an amusement park. There were even rides!

As much as Billy wanted to get on one, he didn't. Walking around, he started to count and memorize the number and location of the guards. Next, he bought an ice cream cone and enjoyed it standing next to the Employees Only door. The guards came and went, and soon ignored him. When they weren't looking, busy switching places, Billy slipped in.

He snuck around the one guard who was watching the monitors. Going into the back where the tanks were, he had to hide quickly, because that trainer had come running into the room sounding really concerned, and there was wailing from one of the mermaids. Which one, Billy didn't know, because he couldn't get caught, so he slipped away quickly.

Sneaking into a room that looked like an office, Billy pulled his hoodie on and looked around before abruptly stopping. Multi-colored peals were all lined up in little tubes. Most of them were all white. The darker colored ones worried Billy, so he started to count them.

After counting and writing it down in his notebook, Billy left.

That's all Bruce wanted for the day, and besides, it had been five hours and Bruce had said five hours tops. Stuffing the notebook away, he hurried back the way he'd come and out the door, down the long stretch of the amusement park and finally out the doors of Ocean Waters.

For a second Billy was worried that Bruce wouldn't be there, but that left quickly when he saw Bruce standing there outside, his black car waiting. Billy smiled when Bruce smiled at him, waving, before the little boy hurried into the car and they drove away.

* * *

Jericho hurried into the tank area when he heard wailing. Once he'd run in, he saw Nightwing trying to squeeze his way out of the bars of the tanks, and so far he seemed to be getting what he wanted.

"Whoa, Nightwing!" Jericho ran over. "Nightwing, calm down, shhh, calm down! Hold on, I'll get you unstuck."

Nightwing wailed loudly, shaking his head and pointing at the empty tank. Jericho followed the pointing as he realized what was wrong. Grabbing the keys, he unlocked the bars and moved them apart a bit, letting Nightwing slip back into the water before popping out, cooing sadly.

"Shh, Robin's okay. He's just not feeling well right now. He's in the medical bay, and I promise you Robin's fine. Do you understand, Nightwing? Robin is all right."

Nightwing cooed again.

"It's all right, I'm going back to check on him, all right?"

Nightwing whimpered pleadingly.

"All right, be right back, okay? Just calm down, okay?"

Nightwing nodded before settling back to wait.

Jericho smiled at him before leaving, calmly, so the other would know that nothing bad was happening. Once out of sight, Jericho let out a breath of relief before entering the medical bay.

Robin was laying in a box of water that almost looked like a casket. It had water in it, but the small mermaid was tied down. Something was wrong with him. Whatever it was, Jericho didn't know. They had been looking for a mermaid doctor who could tell them what was wrong.

For now, the small mermaid was chewing on the strap of leather they'd had to put in his mouth to keep him from biting his tongue. Robin looked at him, growling and tugging at his restraints. Blue eyes glared at him fiercely.

"Easy, Robin, just checking on you," Jericho said, before sitting on the chair next to the box of water. "I wish you could talk and tell me what's wrong with you."

Robin struggled again, crying out. Jericho shook his head, wondering if he'd ever know what was wrong with the mermaid. For now though, he picked up a needle, at least he could offer the mermaid some peace. As he pressed the needle to Robin's arm though, someone stormed in.

"Stop!" the woman said, marching right up to them. "Stop right there, Mr. Wilson. I shall take over from here."

"And who are you?" Jericho asked, stepping in front of Robin.

"You sent for me," she said, holding out her hand. "Doctor Leslie Thompkins, mermaid doctor of all kinds. Now then, move aside, move aside, let me see what is wrong with this little fellow."

"Uh," Jericho sputtered, as he was basically pushed out of the way. "By all means?"

"Hmm." She checked the mermaid over while he growled at her. "Hmm. Mmhm. Hmm."

"I, uh, I'm just gonna go-"

"Hand me my bag," she said, holding out here hand. "Well, hurry up now, no time to waste."

Without another word, he handed it over.

* * *

Billy bit into the steak, trying to pull off a piece by stabbing it with a fork and growling. After a good twenty seconds he got a chunk. Chewing it quickly, he bit into the steak again. Bruce had been watching him with one brow raised before he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Here, I'll cut it up for you."

"I g't t'is," Billy growled out as he tried to pull off another piece.

It was like watching a stray dog.

Reaching over, Bruce moved Billy back, before taking his plate and cutting up the steak into small bite-sized pieces so the human child wouldn't choke to death. As he did, he watched Billy closely, seeing the boy digging into the baked potato. Land dweller food wasn't something Bruce enjoyed much, but at the moment he didn't have a choice.

"Here."

"Thanks!" Billy stabbed one before taking a bite. "Yum!"

Bruce smiled before going back to the small notes Billy had collected for him. The hand writing was surprisingly neat. It indicated the locations of all the guards, when they changed shifts, where the tank room was that held his sons, and an office that contained pearls.

There were less than five minutes of Tim's life measured in white pearls. Eight yellow, which were a minute's span of life; five blue, two minutes; eighteen red, ten minutes; pink, green, gray, and three black among them.

"Something wrong, Mister?" Billy asked, while not so sneakily pulling some of the meat off of Bruce's plate.

"Somewhat. I'm just adding up the pearls."

"The life, right? Is it a lot?"

"Yes." Bruce frowned before looking at Billy. "Are you sure you counted them all?"

"Yep. All the way down to the last one."

"I see…"

"What is it?" Billy asked, seeing the worry on the man's face. "It's bad, isn't it?"

After a second, Bruce smiled at him. "No. Nothing that can't be fixed. Now finish your food and go take a bath."

"I took one yesterday."

"And you'll take another one today."

Billy whined, but after dinner and the promise of more food he went to take his bath. Meanwhile, Bruce counted the pearls that had been shed. Normally the spell he'd put on Tim would keep them from forming, but with Thomas' hand in this…

Fifty years.

Fifty years of life was a lot of life even to a mermaid.

The phone rang and Bruce walked up to it, answering. "Yes? I see. Of course. No, it's fine. This just means we'll have to speed up our time table. Is there anything you can…? Yes. Yes, that's perfect. Of course."

Billy came in wearing pajamas after drying his hair off and walked over to the large man, who was having some sort of important conversation. Yawning a bit, Billy stood there waiting for Bruce to finish so he could get a candy.

More asleep than awake, Billy swayed slowly side to side before he was suddenly lifted up. He figured that he was going to be tossed into bed, but to his surprise Bruce held him as he talked on the phone to whoever it was. Laying his head on his shoulder, Billy drifted off to sleep dreaming about when his parents had been alive.

Just before he could fall completely asleep, he heard Bruce say, "Thank you, Leslie."

* * *

Jericho watched from the other side of the room as the doctor got off her phone and walked over to him, serious expression settling into a smile.

"Robin should be fine now. His tail had glass shards in it."

"Glass shards." Jericho frowned. "How did that happen?"

She eyed him for a long time before she looked at the mermaid. "I don't know. However, I took all of them out. They were stained with a drug known as Vertigo. Not only that, I looked at his tail. There seem to be fractures, and they might have been worse if you hadn't called me in. Now Mr. Wilson-"

"Jericho," he interrupted. "Call me, Jericho, please."

"…Jericho. I would suggest you let him go alone into the pool. He should be fine."

Jericho nodded before he walked up to Robin, who was out in the box of water. Lifting him up, he carefully carried him back to the other tanks, where he laid him in his own. Nightwing cooed urgently at him. Jericho smiled.

"See? He's all right." Jericho looked at him and then over at Red Hood, who was now awake. "All right, we're just going to leave Robin's tank open for now. You two just… just give it a minute, okay?"

Robin seemed to wake up at the sound of the glass sliding open to his tank. He turned and swam off slowly into the pool. Both Nightwing and Red Hood banged on their doors, trying to get out. Robin looked back at them once before continuing out into the pool.

Sighing, Jericho shook his head, trying to get rid of the past day's cares. Going to the fish tank, he scooped up a few of their favorites, tossing them into the tanks, when he paused. Something… something… what was that?

_My heart is pieced by cupid_

Was that singing?

_I disdain all glittering gold_

Turning around carefully, Jericho tried to listen when he recognized that echoing sound, and wow, the day couldn't get worse. Okay, he shouldn't think that, because it could.

_There is nothing can console me_

Running out of the tank room and into the pool, he saw Grant there with a gun pointed at Robin.

Before he could yell at the man to stop, he heard Robin singing again, this time pulling himself up onto the side of the pool, closer, as the man knelt down, his eyes hazed over, listening intently to the song.

"_My heart is pieced by cupid, I disdain all glittering gold, and there is nothing can console me but my jolly sailor bold._"

Jericho watched as Robin reached up slowly, pulling Grant closer to the side of the pool, and that's when the small fog that had started to affect him dissolved and he realized what Robin was going to do. He started to run forward, only to stop.

Grant would report this, and most likely Robin would be…

Shaking his head, he let Robin breathe in the other human's life until the man crumpled onto the side of the pool. Robin refused to remove his mouth from Grant's until he had breathed in all the life. Jericho felt a little bit guilty, but walked over to move Grant over and looked at Robin before his mouth fell open.

Robin was looking up at him, licking his lips.

The only thing wrong with that?

Robin had legs.

* * *

**The song was taken ****from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. It's the mermaid song obviously, and I was going to make up a song but a friend sent me this link and I used it. Also I don't own the song.**

**Please Review 8D**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you L! You're the best!**

* * *

Jericho panicked.

Robin, however, was half dazed as he purred, his stomach full with human life. He hadn't even realized that his tail had been replaced with legs. Suddenly he slipped under the water and started to struggle.

"Oh no!" Jericho dove in, pulling the mermaid out. "Robin! Robin, can you hear me?!"

Robin purred, his eyes closed. Jericho figured he was high off the life force or the mermaid would have been trying to get away from him.

Pulling him out of the water, Jericho grabbed a towel, wrapping it around Robin's waist. After tying a knot, he scooped the mermaid up, running to the back where the medical room was set up before laying him down.

Standing back, Jericho ran his hands over his hair, looking at Robin's legs in shock. _What the hell_ was the only thing running through his mind.

"Okay, okay, calm down, Jericho, and think..." he said to himself. "Robin has legs... yeah. Yeah, okay."

Robin rolled over, purring and looking around. One thing he knew for sure was that his father could not know about this no matter what. Looking around, he started to try and think of what to do when Jericho heard something clattering.

Looking over, he saw Robin attempting to crawl out a window. He was half hanging out the window trying to pull himself out. Running over, Jericho pulled the mermaid back in. After that he found he was having trouble keeping Robin inside, because he seemed to want to go somewhere.

Jericho finally took out a needle and pressed it to the small mermaid's arm. A few minutes later Robin was leaning against the wall trying to push the wall down so he could crawl on it. Jericho was pretty sure that Robin thought it was a rock.

"All right," Jericho said before looking around. "What to do, what to do?"

Scratch.

Scratch.

Scratch.

"Robin, stop scratching the wall."

Robin paused for a moment before doing it again. Jericho sighed again before looking around and remembering a book he had been given a couple years back by a girlfriend who had jokingly got him a book about mermaids who had legs.

He probably still had it.

"All right, Robin, we're going for a ride," Jericho said, scooping up the mermaid who had been scratching the wall. "Come on, buddy, play time is over."

* * *

Billy had snuck back into the Ocean Waters security room.

It had been easy to get inside the place since it seemed that guards liked being lazy today. Sneaking back to the tanks, Billy saw only two mermaids: one with a blue tail who Bruce had said was the oldest named Dick, and one with a red tail who was bigger than the other mermaid and who's name was Jason.

Wait.

"Where's Tim?" Billy asked.

The two mermaids' heads snapped towards him so fast Billy thought that their necks would snap. Jason started to growl angrily at him, and Billy was pretty sure that he was either cussing him out or planning just how he was going to kill this ten-year-old boy.

"Uh, hi!" Billy said brightly.

Jason growled at him.

"Bruce sent me." Billy waved him off. "I just came to tell you that Daddy Bats is working on a plan to get you guys out."

Dick seemed to laugh at the nickname and spun in a circle, a big grin on his face. Jason huffed and growled at Billy again. The two seemed to be having a conversion and Billy wasn't too sure but he thought that Dick kept pointing at his hair and eyes like it made a difference.

"Sooo…" Billy said, raising an eyebrow. "Where's Tim?"

Dick shook his head sadly as he cooed mournfully.

"Don't worry, I'll find him." Billy turned to run off before he stopped. "Oh, yeah, almost forgot!"

Running back to the tanks, he dropped items in.

"Good luck, guys, see ya later!"

Dick took the long line of small blue shells. Looking over at Jason, he saw that he had black ones. It seemed that they should be prepared. Wrapping the shells around his waist, Dick settled down. He wasn't feeling good. Not just about where his family was, but he felt… sick.

An hour later the door opened again, this time it was Wally. Dick grinned at him but paused when the bars were removed from both his and Jason's tanks. Looking at him, Dick titled his head.

"Come on, Dick, I read all about mermaid families but this woman who knows more than she should says that you guys need to heal up. So come on, I'll throw you into Mr. Grumpy Face's tank."

Dick laughed and Jason growled.

* * *

Jericho looked around his small house, looking for that book. He was tossing books off his shelf in his scramble to find it. It didn't help that Robin had decided to cling to his leg all while purring his head off. Maybe giving that drug to Robin wasn't such a good idea.

"Robin, let go, I gotta find something."

Clawed hands came up to clutch his shirt as the mermaid was dragged along.

"Come on, buddy, let go!" Jericho leaned down and pulled the boy/mermaid up. Robin grabbed onto his shirt, trying to curl up to him. "Sorry, Robin, I'm not your brothers. Hey, you want a fish? Huh, boy, you want a fish?"

Robin's purring picked up but whether it was from the promise of fish or the fact that the smaller one was wiggling his way around him trying to get on his back, Jericho didn't know. Picking up the mermaid, he placed him on the bed where Robin started to chew on the end of his pillow as he ran to the fridge.

Grabbing a fish that Jericho was going to eat on the grill, Jericho walked back to see Robin cooing sadly before it turned into wails of sadness. It sounded so heartbroken. Just like when Nightwing and Red Hood were crying for their families.

"Hey, shhh, it's okay, Robin." Jericho said walking over to pet his head. "Here, have some fish."

Robin chewed on it, purring loudly and biting a few pieces off. Jericho grinned before frowning. Where was that book? Where could he have put it? Getting on his knees, Jericho figured it wouldn't hurt to look under the bed. After all there was so much junk under there.

After moving a few things aside, he failed to notice that Robin was watching him very closely, having finished the fish, and was crouching low, shaking a bit. If Jericho had remembered last time, he would have known that Robin was after someone's back to sleep on.

Without much grace, Robin threw himself onto Jericho, who grunted as the small body landed on his. Groaning, his head hit the floor hard as Robin made himself comfortable, clawing at his back like he was pillow! Finally Robin snuggled down, letting out a deep sigh.

"Bruce."

Outside, Jericho's girlfriend heard Jericho's scream.

* * *

**I will hopefully be done with the next chapter soon, but honestly I don't know. I've been a bit depressed lately. **


	17. Chapter 17

Jericho's girlfriend, whose name was Anne, ran in to see what was wrong, only to stop mid-run as she found her boyfriend laying on the ground, a mostly naked boy curled up on his back, purring softy—yes, purring—and Jericho was having some kind of break down.

"He talked! Oh my sweet lord in heaven, it talked!"

"Jericho?"

"Anne!" Jericho shouted, sitting up quickly, causing Robin to suddenly slide off. "It talked to me, Anne, the _mermaid_ talked to me!"

Robin whined, trying to climb back on, pushing on Jericho's back as if saying, "Get back down there and let me sleep." Anne just looked at Jericho with the strangest expression. She pointed at the boy and then at Jericho.

"Do I need to know something about the kid and you…?"

Jericho stood up, making Robin tumble to the floor. "Anne, that's Robin, the mermaid, and he talked!"

"Okay, Jericho," Anne said, walking over to a chair. "I think you've been spending too much time at work and need to take a seat. Come on, sit down here."

"Anne, I'm not crazy!" Jericho let out a deep breath before looking down at Robin. "Come here, buddy, let's show Anne that you're a mermaid. Show her your… legs… Hm, that was a bad example."

Anne raised her eyebrow, watching the kid's clawed hands try to tug Jericho down. "Are you sure you're okay? Because you sound pretty crazy right now… Okay, sorry, but I need to know who's the kid?"

"This is Robin." Jericho sighed, sitting on his bed. Robin was trying to push him over. "He ate, uh, well he ate and suddenly he had legs."

Anne crossed her arms. "What did he eat?" she asked, as Robin nudged her boyfriend with his head.

"Life," Jericho said, and looked at her. "I'm not joking; he ate someone's life and suddenly he had legs!"

"Ooookay." She took a few steps back. "I'm just gonna, ya know, go back outside…"

"You don't believe me?" Jericho asked in shock before holding out his arms. "What's there not to believe?"

She gave him a look before looking at Robin, who was still trying to push Jericho over. She gave him a pointed look when Jericho groaned and put his face in his hands. Robin cooed sadly, still trying.

"Look, sing something. He likes songs."

Anne sighed. "Um..."

"Oh! Sing that old mermaid song! Sailor Bold!"

She sang the first word before a second voice joined hers.

Robin's voice floated, ending with _"Across the raging sea."_

She took a step forward before seeing the scales, the teeth, and gasped. "A mermaid. You brought home a mermaid?!"

"He doesn't even know where he is!" Jericho shouted, panicked. "Robin still thinks he's at Ocean Waters and wants his brothers!"

"Oh, that makes sense," Anne laughed. "I thought you were doing something bad with a child."

Jericho glared at her. "Sometimes I wonder why I date you. Robin, cut it out!"

Robin wailed sadly from where he was half perched on Jericho. White pearls started to fall from his eyes, landing on the floor, pattering as they bounced. Jericho sighed as he moved the mermaid off, grabbing a large T-shirt before trying to get it on Robin.

"What's he want?" Anne asked, getting close enough to help him get the mermaid into the shirt. "Easy, Robin, it's all right."

"He wants to sleep on my back."

"Why?"

"I don't know, a mermaid thing?"

"Why don't you let him?" she asked, going over to grab some underwear, some shorts, a belt and a pair of socks. "Then, when he's asleep, you can just move him over."

"I don't want to because he claws my back like an angry cat!" Jericho took the items and together they dressed the mermaid. "Besides, I need to find something. Robin, stop moving and let me put clothes on you!"

Robin wailed louder, trying to get away as clothing items were wrapped on him. Robin really didn't like the things on his lower body. He tried getting away, pulling at the clothes, and wailing when they held him down. Something slipped onto what Robin thought were his fins, but it was his feet. Robin started to wail sorrowfully when they finished.

"Just do it!" Anne yelled. "Look at him! You can't just leave him like that!"

"Fine!" Jericho flopped onto his bed. "Happy? Ouch! Robin!"

"Maybe you should have just laid on your back…" Anne said as she winced, watching Robin making himself comfortable on her boyfriend. "Ouch, that looks like it hurts."

"You. Have. No. Idea." Jericho gritted out. "Dear God, kill me."

Robin settled down, curled up, sighing. Both the humans gave each other the look of "All right, we did it!" But then Robin noticed that, no, he wasn't on Jericho's back! Gasp! Robin rolled off Jericho before trying to nudge his way under him. Jericho gave up and rolled over letting the purring mermaid on. Happily, Robin climbed on him using his claws. Jericho wished that mermaids didn't have claws. Or liked to sleep on people.

Robin continued to paw at Jericho until he deemed the other comfortable enough to sleep on. With that he curled up before falling asleep. Ten minutes later Jericho slipped free and swore he would never, ever own a cat.

Ever.

* * *

Billy sat there outside Ocean Waters looking completely dejected. Like the world had chosen to beat him over and over again before tossing him out into the rain. The little boy looked so depressed and down that it hurt Bruce to see it.

He was supposed to pick up Billy an hour ago but he had ended up in a yelling match between himself and Thomas. That had taken up time that shouldn't have been wasted, and when Bruce had realized that he was late, he had sped to Ocean Waters hoping that Billy was still there.

Billy was, but the poor child looked like he was going to die at any moment. Walking carefully over to him, Bruce placed his hand on the side of Billy's shoulder. The boy looked up slowly before those puffy red eyes lit up over a giant grin and he launched himself at Bruce.

"You came back!"

Chuckling, Bruce hugged Billy back. "Of course I did."

Rubbing the water out of his eyes, Billy held tight before he pulled back, suddenly worried. "Bruce… I have bad news."

"What is it?" Bruce asked, concerned.

"Tim's not in there!" Billy looked back at the place. "I looked and looked and he's not there!"

When Bruce said nothing, Billy looked at him closely, titling his head. He could tell something was going on the man's head. Suddenly Billy was scooped up with one arm. Holding onto Bruce, Billy looked over the man's shoulder as they walked away from the place. Or rather, Bruce took long, strong strides. Billy thought it was fun and held on.

He couldn't see it but Bruce was grinning.

Why?

Because he could follow Tim's scent if he wasn't in Ocean Waters.

* * *

Jericho and Anne looked everywhere for the book. They opened boxes that had been put away a long time ago. Robin lay on Jericho's bed, curled up peacefully. Anne commented on how Robin had a happy smile on his face. Jericho had to break it to her that it wasn't a good dream, but because he had drugged the small mermaid. After she smacked his arm they continued.

Half an hour later Anne sat up, sighing before she paused. "Where's the kid?"

"What?!" Jericho came running out from where he had been. "Robin?!"

Cooing could be heard from the living room. They ran there to see Robin still high, lying on his back trying to tug the socks off. He had successfully pulled one off and was working on the next one.

"Aw," Anne said. "He's so cute."

Jericho held his hand over his heart. "I swear that mermaid is going to give me a heart attack."

"Don't be such a baby. Come on, let's keep looking. Anyways it's not like he can get out, right?"

"Yeah, I guess." Jericho went back to looking.

Ten minutes later Jericho came back in to see that not only had Robin managed to work off his second sock but also the belt and the shorts. He had one arm out of the shirt and he was trying to wiggle out of his underwear. Jericho smacked himself in the face. Walking over, he knelt down over Robin, pulling the underwear back on and pulling the shirt back down.

Robin cooed at him as if to complain about the clothes. This was the reason the mermaid wasn't asleep. It was because he was uncomfortable in the clothes. Jericho let Robin cuddle up to him as he put the shirt back on. Just as he was trying to get the boxers back on, the door broke. Yes, it broke, because a big hulking man had broken it, and he was standing there looking murderously at Jericho, who realized with horror what it must have looked like with him over the small child-looking mermaid with one hand on the boy's hips and the other tugging off his shirt.

"_Oh my god,_" Jericho thought. "_I'm going to die._"

* * *

**Thank you to all my readers, I appreciate it so much and it really helped me get over my depression! Please review again and remember to thank L for betaing all the chapters for me! She an amazing person! **


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